The 1796 Tennessee constitution (original, touted by Jefferson to be the least imperfect and most republican of the state constitutions) stated in the Declaration of Rights contained in Article 11 § 26

“That the free men of this State have a right to keep and to bear arms for their common defence.(sic)”

The part of that section that was imperfect as our Second Amendment analogue was, that it should have simply mirrored the Federal right of the People to not have their God-given right to arms infringed, but it was close

Achieved by men and women who STOOD, putting on the armor of God to withstand the wiles of the Devil, seeking Liberty at the cost of blood and treasure…in many cases their very lives and those of their families, in pursuit of freedom from the yoke of tyranny at huge cost to individuals acting in concert to achieve that Freedom. Guaranteed in that same document in Article 10 § 4 of our original 1796 Constitution:

“The declaration of rights hereto annexed is declared to be a part of the constitution of this State, and shall never be violated on any pretence whatever. And to guard against transgressions of the high powers which we have delegated, we declare that everything in the bill of rights contained, and every other right not hereby delegated, is excepted out of the general powers of government, and shall forever remain inviolate.”

Successive iterations of the General Assembly and powerful men in the roles of supposed servants, e.g. Governors, Speakers of the House and Senate have bastardized the original promise to closet power to themselves, when it is inherent in the People by design and inscribed in our Founding document.

Mao Zedong, architect of one of the most vile and cruel power grabs in the history of mankind orchestrated in China under his despotism stated famously:

“All political power comes from the barrel of a gun. The communist party must command all the guns, that way, no guns can ever be used to command the party.”

The above statement is a truism that reflects the power grab in our statues today in Tennessee, TCA 39-17-1307 (a)

A person commits an offense who carries, with the intent to go armed, a firearm or a club.

In response to this overarching, insidious making of a right into a crime by politicians who portend to follow their Oath to the constitutions, NYSRPA v. Bruen states emphatically:

“In keeping with Heller, we hold that when the Second Amendment’s plain text covers an individual’s conduct, the Constitution presumptively protects that conduct. To justify its regulation, the government may not simply posit that the regulation promotes an important interest. Rather, the government must demonstrate that the regulation is consistent with this Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation. Only if a firearm regulation is consistent with this Nation’s historical tradition may a court conclude that the individual’s conduct falls outside the Second Amendment’s “unqualified command.” - New York State Rifle & Pistol Assn., Inc. v. Bruen, No. 20-843, 14 (U.S. Jun. 23, 2022)

This is appropriate to requote from SCOTUS:

Fortunately, the Founders created a Constitution-and a Second Amendment- “intended to endure for ages to come, and consequently, to be adapted to the various crises of human affairs.” - New York State Rifle & Pistol Assn., Inc. v. Bruen, No. 20-843, 24-25 (U.S. Jun. 23, 2022)

Sidebar, Jeanine Ferris Pirro, United States Attorney for the District of Columbia ruled it was lawful for those who could possess long guns to carry them for self defense, Tennesseans cannot by law.

Our Supreme Court of Tennessee (if certain state officials would care to read the case, in conjunction with their statements that the Hughes et al. v. Lee et al. Order from the duly constituted three judge panel was not sufficiently “strong” to warrant the Governor and AG from opposing the simple Declaration that 1307 (a) was “void and without effect”, this is the highest court in the state):

“Such, then, as are found to make up the usual arms of the citizen of the country, and the use of which will properly train and render him efficient in defense of his own liberties, as well as of the State. Under this head, with a knowledge of the habits of our people, and of the arms in the use of which a soldier should be trained, we would hold, that the rifle of all descriptions, the shot gun, the musket, and repeater, are such arms; and that under the Constitution the right to keep such arms, cannot be infringed or forbidden by the Legislature”. Andrews v. State, 50 Tenn. (3 Heisk.) 165, 8 Am. Rep. 8 (1871)

I pledge that as long as God spares me I will continue the quest to return the state of Tennessee back to the original intent of the Founders ,i.e., that we have a preexisting (to the founding of the Republic and our state) right to keep, bear and wear arms for all lawful purposes.

The result of 229 years of rule by state government in Tennessee is exercising our right to bear arms for self defense makes us a criminal.