Farragut’s state Rep. Jason Zachary does not support Gov. Bill Lee’s call for a special legislative session to consider what Lee calls “an order of protection,” a bill to restrict temporarily gun access to people who are a risk of harming themselves or others.
Lee is no raging liberal and he’s built safeguards into the legislation to require due process before a person’s guns are taken.
But Zachary ran out on a limb, declaring on April 19, “Red flag/order of protection legislation will not pass the TN House. I do not and will not support. The vast majority of my fellow House GOP colleagues feel the same.”
Then Vanderbilt University released its semi-annual statewide poll. That poll showed 82% of respondents approved Gov. Lee’s executive order to require background checks before buying guns; 72% supported Lee’s order of protection.
The poll also showed around two-thirds of respondents supported laws that would require gun owners to securely store guns. The Vanderbilt Poll was conducted between April 19-23 among 1,003 registered Tennessee voters.
But then Zachary popped off again, saying he did not need the Vanderbilt poll to tell him what his constituents thought about gun restrictions. Yesterday (05/04/23) he tweeted a poll that he had designed asking, “What do you feel is the core issue driving the evil acts of violence we are seeing in our country?”
He listed choices: Sin, mental health, breakdown of the family, or guns.
The results came in overwhelmingly: Guns – at almost 90%
What did he think would happen?
His “poll” had a timer, counting down the time remaining. Then the “poll” disappeared from his social media. But folks with better computer skills than I kept taking screen shots and reposting. And it’s amazing how closely the results align, even with over 100,000 respondents.
Below are three of those screenshots. Zachary’s Facebook page is here. Go see if he publishes the final results. More important, see if he gives a fig. His vote is “no,” regardless of how anyone or everyone else feels. Representative government in action.
Sandra Clark is editor/CEO of Knox TN Today Inc.
