As the Tennessee General Assembly picks up the pace to make its final sprint for its 2017-2018 session, bills are being disposed of left and right.
Here's a few that went away and one we wish had:
» A proposal to ban bump stock sales that mirrors Gov. Bill Haslam's thinking on the issue has failed in committees in both the state House and Senate.
House Majority Leader Glen Casada, R-Franklin, had previously said there's no need for the legislature to act because federal officials are likely to ban the devices that modify semi-automatic weapons so they can mimic the effects of fully automatic guns.
But what if they don't? If state Republicans are OK with outlawing bump stocks - used in the 2017 Las Vegas slaughter that killed 59 people and wounded more than 500 - we wish they had passed the measure themselves. That would give federal officials more onus to take the steps nationally.
If they're not OK with it, they need to say so and explain how they believe they would assist - um - hunters.
» Similarly, Republican Senate leader Randy McNally of Oak Ridge, after a plan to legalize medical cannabis in the state collapsed for the year, said the issue should be addressed at the federal level.
Well, we agree, but legalizing marijuana only for medical use is unlikely to see the light of day on a national scale anytime soon. Other conservative states have passed such laws, though, and patients dealing with a variety of illnesses are seeing some relief.
Tennessee has studied the issue and studied it and studied it some more. We sense it has passed the test of whether it is effective but has stalled in the logistics arena - like how the cannabis might come into the state.
It even passed the House Criminal Justice Committee 9-2 this year despite opposition from the Haslam administration, law enforcement and prosecutors, but Republican Senate sponsor Steve Dickerson, a practicing Nashville physician, said he could not get enough votes in the House Judiciary Committee and requested it be sent for summer study.
We hope it gets enough study this summer so legislators can once and for all give their constituents some relief or explain to them why they can't.
» The state's gubernatorial election undoubtedly affected the politics of it, as did national legislative proposals involving Dreamers, but simple in-state tuition for illegal immigrant children brought here through no fault of their own died in the General Assembly once again.
Though Haslam supported the bill sponsored by state Sen. Todd Gardenhire, R-Chattanooga, most Republican candidates for governor didn't, so they made it difficult for legislators to walk the line between sensible legislation and election-year politics.
The bill wasn't asking that students receive free or even discounted tuition that isn't offered to other state residents - just that they receive in-state rates. This one is a head scratcher since college-educated illegal immigrants are more likely to obtain something better than cash-under-the-table jobs and, thus, pay more sales taxes that benefit the state.
Perhaps, if Gardenhire is not tired of offering the bill, it might see the light of day next year.
» We can't imagine the General Assembly would have many members who would be supportive of neo-Nazis and white nationalists, but two proposed resolutions that would have denounced such groups died within two weeks in the legislature.
We can only speculate because the majority Republicans aren't spelling out their opposition, except procedurally, but labels often find ways of expanding. What, exactly, are the tenants of being a neo-Nazi or a white nationalist, for instance? If they are against illegal immigration, supportive of police, and are not a fan of more government subsidies, despite whatever else they believe, they may sound a lot like conservatives and Republicans. At that point, they're just a step away from Democrats labeling them neo-Nazis and white nationalists.
State Rep. Ryan Williams, the House Republican Caucus chairman and sponsor of one of the bills that died, said he believes "it is important for our General Assembly to condemn groups that support racism and hatred," but he said the bill's caption was too narrow and couldn't be amended to incorporate additional feedback gathered from our members over the past couple of days."
» And while we'd like to be more supportive of the passage by the Senate and House of a bill requiring public schools to post the national motto "In God We Trust" prominently on school grounds, we're afraid it's only an empty gesture like making the Bible the official state book.
Yes, the motto is on our currency and some government buildings, but we fear whatever upside the posting would have would be negated by lawsuits and derision heaped on the state for attempting to endorse a faith (plus the cost of posting it on every public school). It also seems a little disingenuous when student-led public prayer is not allowed, when the Bible can't be taught beyond a history book and when students are publicly shamed and humiliated in some places if they even offer overtly religious opinions.
Let's fight to take back the religious liberties we have but are being denied us before we start additional skirmishes.