Military Service Members and Veterans Letter of Support

If you are a U.S. Military Service Member or Veteran living in Tennessee who would like to add your name to this public letter, please fill out this form. This letter will be delivered to Governor Bill Lee, Lieutenant Governor Randy McNally, Speaker Cameron Sexton, and members of the Tennessee General Assembly directly. We will continue to add names to our online version of this letter below.

According to Department of Defense directives members of the Armed Forces, including those on active duty, are encouraged to participate in the obligations of citizenship which may include signing non-partisan letters of support for legislative actions such as this.

Dear Governor Bill Lee, Lieutenant Governor Randy McNally, Speaker Cameron Sexton and members of the Tennessee General Assembly,

While many of the individuals who have signed this letter have never met, the recent tragic events at Covenant School and across the country have brought us together to make this appeal.

We have all served our country in the armed forces, have chosen to live in Tennessee, and represent a wide range of political views.  Many of us are gun owners and all of us respect the importance of the Second Amendment. We feel we share the core beliefs of the majority of Tennesseans.

Most importantly, we strongly believe that there are reasonable measures our Government can take to help reduce the horror of gun violence while maintaining the rights for which we have each personally served our country to defend.

We ask that you immediately pass legislation implementing the following measures to improve firearm safety, all of which have proven to protect the lives of Americans by reducing gun violence in our communities:

1. Require all firearms sellers – including those who are unlicensed – to complete background checks on every person purchasing a firearm; 
2. Empower family members and designated law enforcement officers to identify people who present an imminent danger to themselves or others, and through due process temporarily remove firearms in their possession;
3. Introduce requirements for securely storing firearms and reporting lost or missing guns.

Our service has given us a unique understanding of the responsibility that comes with owning a firearm.  The measures we are asking you to implement are both consistent with how we were required to handle and store firearms in the military and have also been effective in reducing the loss of lives in other states where these measures have been adopted. 

We respect and appreciate your service to our state and ask you to help protect our state – especially our children – by passing legislation that includes these measures.  Our hope is that hearing this request from a group of military servicemembers and veterans demonstrates the broad support for change in Tennessee.

Very respectfully,

U.S. Military Service Members and Veterans in Tennessee