KNOX COUNTY, Tenn. — East Tennessee lawmakers weighed in Wednesday after Governor Bill Lee formally announced a special session focusing on public safety.
Over 20,000 Tennesseans wrote to the governor's office through an online form, requesting comments and concerns for the upcoming special session. Since the shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville many of those responses, including in East Tennessee, were for stronger gun laws.
"I don't think it was ever going to be all about guns," said Sen. Becky Duncan Massey (R - Knoxville). "I think that was just the governor had thrown out just to kind of get people talking about the extreme risk protection order."
Rep. Gloria Johnson (D - Knoxville) called the agenda for the special session disingenuous.
"There's nothing about this call to a special session that makes a lot of sense," Johnson said. "Not based on the research and data that we have about gun violence."
One of the popular suggestions since the shooting is to create "red flag laws," which could effectively prevent people who demonstrate they might be a danger to themselves or others from buying a gun.
Rep. Jason Zachary (R - Knoxville) says in his district, he does not see support for red flag laws. Instead, he suggests looking at mental health issues, which he calls the root of the cause of violence.
"We have opportunities to do good work for the people at the state. While preserving Second Amendment rights, while ensuring that we address mental health issues and we address public safety," Zachary said.
Another suggestion was for safe storage laws which penalize gun owners if they keep firearms unsecured and accessible to others, such as children.
"I have a safe storage bill written," Johnson said. "It keeps your Second Amendment rights. But it also keeps guns out of the hands of people who shouldn't have them or can't purchase them."
The suggestion for safe storage laws on the agenda would make safe storage supplies easier to buy, but it would not penalize people who do not properly lock up their guns.
You can find more information on the agenda of the special session here.