Tennessee lawmakers are still torn on gun control policy but are warming up to Rep. Shaundelle Brooks.
The House Criminal Justice Subcommittee gave bipartisan support to a gun control bill from Nashville’s newest representative Wednesday, after rejecting another gun control bill in a heated argument in the same meeting.
While Brooks’ success is a harbinger of progress for some, the treatment of Rep. Justin J. Pearson, D-Memphis, earlier in the same meeting shows a limit to gun policy and activism that Republicans will accept from their Democratic colleagues.
The gun debates started when Pearson, who has been absent for much of the legislative session after his brother — using a firearm — died by suicide in December, advocated for a bill to undo Tennessee’s 2021 law allowing permit-less carry of handguns.
According to Pearson, the 2021 law — a measure that passed despite pushback from chiefs of police and sheriffs — is contributing to an uptick in homicides and suicides. His bill, which failed 7-2 along party lines, would have restored the requirement for training to obtain a permit to carry a firearm.
“We are continuing to live with the ramifications of the decision of too lackadaisical attitudes and legislation related to guns and firearms in the hands of people who should not have them,” Pearson said.
Though he said he supports both the Second Amendment and an individual’s right to carry a weapon for protection, Pearson said, “giving anyone who can walk into a gun store access to a firearm that can hurt them or can hurt other people is wrong.”
Rep. Andrew Farmer, R-Sevierville, took issue with Pearson urging his colleagues to “do something” about gun violence, and questioned Pearson’s attendance.
“I know every member of this committee has been here this year working during committee, during session, voting on bills,” Farmer said, inciting boos and groans from the crowd before he finished his criticism.
“And I know you may have some things going on, but you have not, so I don’t think it’s fair for you to come to this committee and lecture us on hard work and convictions,” Farmer said.
The comment “incensed” Pearson, who explained his absences caused by tending to his brother’s funeral and children after his death, and compared Farmer’s demeanor to that during the vote to expel Pearson and his colleague Rep. Justin Jones, D-Nashville, after the pair protested for gun control following the 2023 mass shooting at Nashville’s Covenant School.
“They make me very, very angry, not just because of the lack of regard, but the disrespect and the same denigrating tone that you used on the state house floor when the vote to expel me happened,” Pearson said.
Pearson shouted at Farmer for over two minutes until his microphone was cut off. Farmer denied being disrespectful, and the pair were interrupted as the dispute continued, and the crowd joined in yelling at Farmer.
After the bill failed, members of the crowd called the vote “shameful,” and the chair called for a five-minute recess. Pearson briefly confronted Farmer on the dais before both were escorted out.
After the dust had settled, Brooks introduced her first piece of gun legislation to the same committee.
Her bill honors her son, Akilah DaSilva, who was shot and killed at age 23 during the 2018 Waffle House mass shooting in Antioch. During that incident, four people were killed by Travis Reinking, an Illinois man who was barred from possessing firearms after the court and mental health professionals deemed him a danger to himself and others.
Reinking used an assault rifle illegally provided to him by his father to carry out the attack.
Akilah’s Law would hold those who knowingly provide weapons to people not allowed to possess firearms, drawing inspiration from the similar Illinois law that resulted in an 18-month prison sentence for Reinking’s father.
“My son Akilah would still be here today if the parents of the perpetrator had followed the instructions of law enforcement, the judicial system and medical professionals, who deemed their son unfit to possess a firearm,” Brooks said in a brief, emotional testimony.
Brooks was backed by testimony from her other son — who was just 12 when his brother was killed — the Davidson County prosecutor who prosecuted Reinking and a mental health provider who argued the bill would also help reduce suicides by keeping guns from those in crisis.
James Shaw Jr., another victim of the Waffle House attack who managed to wrest Reinking’s gun from him, likely saving his life and the lives of others in the restaurant, also advocated for Brooks’ bill, noting the impact gun violence has on survivors.
“I’ve seen the outcome of it. I’ve seen how it can fracture families. I’ve seen the holes it can make, and I can see how the mending doesn’t happen,” Shaw said, also testifying about having injuries and PTSD as a survivor of the attack.
With no substantive debate after the emotional testimony, the bill cleared the subcommittee 6-2, with bipartisan support. While the subcommittee is just the first step and the bill is still a long way from law, the Republican support and praise for Brooks and her bill are anomalous for gun control legislation carried by a Democrat in Tennessee’s conservative General Assembly.
Beyond just voting to advance the bill, Farmer credited Brooks for her ability to meet with members and curry votes on both sides of the aisle, praising Brooks’ burgeoning career as a lawmaker.
“I want everyone to know that’s how you work your bills, that’s how you work your legislation and the things you care about,” Farmer said. “I just wanted to publicly commend you on your hard work, and I think you’re going to go a long way here in the Tennessee state legislature.”
Akilah’s Law will move on to the House Judiciary Committee and is scheduled to be heard in the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday, along with a second Brooks bill on the safe storage of firearms, which was deferred Wednesday and will be heard in the house subcommittee next week.
This article first appeared on Nashville Banner and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Rep. Justin J. Pearson, D-Memphis, confronts Rep. Andrew Farmer, R-Sevierville, during Wednesday’s Tennessee House Criminal Justice Subcommittee meeting. (Martin B. Cherry / Nashville Banner)