On August 26, 2025, Senator Brent Taylor (R) issued a letter to Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti in which Sen. Taylor supported the three-judge panel ruling against the State striking down the “intent to go armed” and “parks” statutes and encouraging that the Attorney General not appeal the ruling.   Other state legislators, including Rep. Jody Barrett (video) and Rep. Clay Doggett have likewise taken to social media to support the trial court ruling and speak out in support of the constitutional rights of Tennesseans by opposing any appeal.

Curiously, Rep. Chris Todd, however, proclaimed on social media that he was encouraging the State to appeal the decision. Although Rep. Todd, while stating that “[t]he Chancellors’ opinion was one of the most thorough, well-reasoned, and well-written decisions we’ve seen. The judges did an outstanding job laying out the constitutional issues with clarity and precision,” nonetheless urged the State to appeal the decision thereby delaying its effectiveness perhaps by years and risking that the court might reverse the ruling on technical grounds that avoided the constitutional challenge.

One must wonder whether Rep. Todd was being “coached” perhaps by other Legislators or advocates who actually oppose the ruling since the law is quite clear that if litigation can be resolved on technical issues that completely avoid a constitutional challenge to a statute (e.g., standing, mootness, etc.) that the court is required to dispose of the case whenever possible without striking down a blatantly unconstitutional statute. See, for example, Tennessee Supreme Court ruling Owens v. State, 908 S.W.2d 923, 926 (Tenn. 1995).

If you are aware of other Legislators, District Attorneys, Sheriffs or public officials who have taken a public position on this ruling, either supporting it or calling for an appeal, please send that provide that information to Tennessee Firearms Association.

If you appreciate the work that these Tennessee Firearms Association members did to serve as plaintiffs in this lawsuit and the work that TFA has done to try to repeal these unconstitutional laws in the past, please consider joining and supporting these efforts. If you want to help to fund this lawsuit (there will almost certainly be an appeal) or other similar lawsuits to defend our rights, you can consider tax deductible donations to the Tennessee Firearms Foundation.

What can you do now?

• read this opinion
• watch for this and additional reports on the impact of this ruling
• take copies of this opinion and these reports to your legislators and demand answers as to why they failed to take action so that this lawsuit would not have been required
• find constitutionally minded stewards to replace the legislators and governors who have failed us

If you appreciate this effort, this ruling and TFA’s dedication to protecting our rights, please consider joining and supporting TFA by being a member.