Tennessee Legislature Rejects Republican Governor’s Call for Red Flag Legislation

State Sen. Jeff Yarbro debates a proposal allowing faith-based adoption agencies to decline to place children with same-sex couples because of their religious belief, in Nashville, Tenn., on Jan. 14, 2020. Mark Humphrey/AP Photo

Calls by Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee for an extreme risk protection order law were dead on arrival in the Tennessee General Assembly as they attempted to wrap up the 2023 legislative session on Friday without being taken up in either chamber.

The state’s GOP caucus posted on Twitter earlier this week that any call for such legislation, which some have referred to as a red flag law, was a “non-starter.”