SBC public policy president, a Covenant parent, backs Lee's gun law proposal
The head of the Southern Baptist Convention’s public policy arm, who is a Covenant School parent, is urging the Tennessee General Assembly to back Gov. Bill Lee’s proposal for an extreme risk protective order law.
“The Covenant School tragedy was the worst school shooting in our state’s history,” Brent Leatherwood, president of the Nashville-based Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, wrote in a letter to Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, House Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, and every member of the legislature. “I am asking that you take steps now to ensure no school in Tennessee ever has to endure our nightmare again.”
Leatherwood’s letter, an appeal from both his personal experience and on behalf of majority Southern Baptist sentiment, comes amid uncertainty about the success of Lee’s proposal to prevent people deemed a danger to themselves or others from accessing firearms.
Lawmakers are rushing this week to wrap up the legislative session, a tight timeline that makes debate on the legislation difficult.
“Other voices are saying there is too little time left in this legislative session to consider such a proposal. Little credence should be given to that,” said Leatherwood, former executive director of the Tennessee Republican Party.
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An extreme risk protection order law, or ERPO, allows civil courts to temporarily block a person from accessing firearms if they are deemed a danger to themselves or others. Extreme-risk laws are often referred to as "red flag" laws, a phrase considered political anathema in conservative circles. Lee has been careful to sidestep the term.
Leatherwood said regardless of the time left in the session, legislators have a responsibility to back Lee’s proposal.
“Tennesseans have placed their trust in you to guide and steward our state, particularly in times of tragedy,” Leatherwood said in the letter. “This is one of those moments.”
Leatherwood reminded the lawmakers that Southern Baptists comprise “one-fifth of the population of Tennessee.”
The Nashville-based SBC, a conservative denomination whose members are generally supportive of the Second Amendment, have repeatedly called for lawmakers to find ways to reduce gun violence.
The convention approved a resolution in 2018 calling on authorities to “to implement preventative measures that would reduce gun violence and mass shootings while operating in accordance with the Second Amendment.” The resolution followed a mass shooting at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs that killed 26 and injured 22 others.
The convention approved a similar resolution last year calling on leaders to seek solutions “to minimize the threat of gun violence.”
SBC resolutions can help guide action by leaders of SBC-affiliated agencies, such as the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.
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Leatherwood’s request to lawmakers is also informed by his personal experience as a Covenant School parent.
“A week ago, at 10:28 a.m., I received the most terrifying call a parent could imagine: a shooter was at the school of my three children,” Leatherwood tweeted a week after the March 27 Covenant School shooting.
“While our family is safe now, the trauma from that day & the memories of six friends, classmates, leaders, & servants will be with us for the rest of our lives.”
Letter To_ Lt. Governor, Speaker, And Every Member of the Legislature by USA TODAY Network on Scribd
Liam Adams covers religion for The Tennessean. Reach him at ladams@tennessean.com or on Twitter @liamsadams.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Southern Baptist' public policy arm head backs Gov. Lee's gun proposal
