Tennessee Sheriff's Association and its lobbying attempt against Constitutional Carry bills in 2021

[Worriedman]

The Sheriff's Association is a 501 (c) 3 charity, (per its tax fillings, most recent 990s a(ttached) Section IV Question 4 is instructive, where they tell the IRS that they do not lobby.   Their Mission Statement is:
The purpose of the organization is to promote better and more effective law enforcement, maintain a high level of ethical conduct on the part of all Sheriffs and their deputies, provide a forum of constant exchange of knowledge and experience among all Sheriffs.”

This is the factual listing by the Sheriff’s Association on their IRS forms and locked in.  Nowhere does it list lobby the TN General Assembly in that filing.

Yet, they file with the State of Tennessee, documents listing their paid lobbyist. (attached)

Duties of the Sheriff per our TCA:
38-3-102. Duties of sheriff.

(a)  The sheriff is the principal conservator of the peace in the sheriff's county. It is the sheriff's duty to suppress all affrays, riots, routs, unlawful assemblies, insurrections, or other breaches of the peace, to do which the sheriff may summon to such sheriff's aid as many of the inhabitants of the county as such sheriff thinks proper.

(b)  It shall be the duty of the sheriffs, in their respective counties, by themselves or deputies, to patrol the roads of the county, to ferret out crimes, to secure evidence of crimes, and to apprehend and arrest criminals.

I see nothing there that would indicate the legislature has given them power by law to make law, or to advocate under color of their official employment to deny any Constitutional Right, e.g. HB 0786 or HB 0018 which both deal with "Constitutional" or permitless carry by non criminal Tennessee Citizens before the General Assembly.

Rather, I would assume that their letter (attached) to the House criminal justice sub-committee is exactly that (it has been offered on another thread, but i will include it here for reference as their attempt "under color of official employment" is just that by sending that letter and is pertinent to another TCA code:
TCA  39-16-403. Official oppression. —

  (a)  A public servant acting under color of office or employment commits an offense who:

    (1)  Intentionally subjects another to mistreatment or to arrest, detention, stop, frisk, halt, search, seizure, dispossession, assessment or lien when the public servant knows the conduct is unlawful; or

    (2)  Intentionally denies or impedes another in the exercise or enjoyment of any right, privilege, power or immunity, when the public servant knows the conduct is unlawful.

  (b)  For purposes of this section, a public servant acts under color of office or employment if the public servant acts, or purports to act, in an official capacity or takes advantage of the actual or purported capacity.

  (c)  An offense under this section is a Class E felony.

  (d)  Charges for official oppression may be brought only by indictment, presentment or criminal information; provided, that nothing in this section shall deny a person from pursuing other criminal charges by affidavit of complaint.

  [Acts 1989, ch. 591, § 1; 1990, ch. 980, § 11.]

The letter sent to the sub-committee is acting under color of official employment.

In the light of an old Blue Grass song, "Muleskinner Blues" a line says, "if you don't like your job, set the water bucket down." If any Sheriff wants to do other than their job of upholding the law and instead wish to foster legislation, perhaps they should set the water bucket of Sheriff down and resign and run for the General Assembly, whose job IS to make law.

Further, the testimony by the Association and the letter indicate that all 95 Sheriffs are in agreement with the ask for implied consent (Papers Please) which violates the Federal 4th Amendment and State 7th.  I have personally spoken with 4 who were not polled, do not agree with the context of the letter and who support Constitutional Carry either open or concealed as well as of this writing 5 others who have sent notification via Citizens of their Counties that they were not consulted nor do they agree with the Association.

The Sheriff's Oath:
"I                             do solemnly swear that I will perform with fidelity the duties of the office to which I have been elected, and which I am about to assume. I do solemnly swear to support the constitutions of Tennessee and the United States and to faithfully perform the duties of the office of sheriff for                           County, Tennessee. I further swear that I have not promised or given, nor will I give any fee, gift, gratuity, or reward for this office or for aid in procuring this office; that I will not take any fee, gift, or bribe, or gratuity for returning any person as a juror or for making any false return of any process and that I will faithfully execute the office of sheriff to the best of my knowledge and ability, agreeably to law."
indicates no duty to force their personal feelings or beliefs on the populace and simply charges them with supporting the Constitutions of the Union and State.   Their charge by the legislature is simply stated in 38-3-102.

 

 

Sheriff's Association Letter.pdf TN Sheriffs - lobbyists.pdf 2017 990.pdf

[Chucktshoes]

I wonder what it would take to get the IRS involved since it is obvious that according to the letter of the law, the TN Sheriff’s Association is engaged in disallowed activity.
 

I got jokes today. The government never goes after its own for wrongdoing. 

Edited February 28, 2021 by Chucktshoes

[Grayfox54]

As I mentioned in another thread. These guys aren't law men, they're politicians. Armed citizens not only cut into their power base, but when crime starts going down, it'll cut into their budgets. They can't have that happening. 

[robin48]

I personally know my sheriff and I don't believe he would support the letter, but i could be wrong.

[Wheelgunner]

@Worriedman - Would it be possible for the TFA to complete an IRS Form 13909 (describing the activities of the Tennessee Sheriffs' Association, Inc. and raising the question of that organization's compliance with the Internal Revenue Code's restrictions on lobbying activities) and to send that completed form to the IRS office in Dallas as described in the link below?

https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/irs-complaint-process-tax-exempt-organizations

If so, would it be possible for the TFA to "cc" the office of the Tennessee Attorney General on that communication to the IRS, in that office's oversight capacity regarding Tennessee charitable organizations?

I ask these questions as a curious Tennessean, as a brand new TFA member, and as someone who honestly doesn't know if that is something the TFA is able to do within the confines of its bylaws, applicable state law, etc.

Edited March 1, 2021 by Wheelgunner
To improve clarity

[Wheelgunner]

Sorry - one more thought...  Look closely at the actual letter that the Tennessee Sheriffs' Association, Inc. submitted seeking to influence the activities of our elected state representatives. 

Was anyone else fascinated in particular by the first sentence of the second paragraph?  Does that sentence seem to you like TSA, Inc. admitting that it has made a concerted effort to oppose legislation of this nature (i.e., to lobby against this legislation) for at least an entire year?  

[Grayfox54]

3 hours ago, robin48 said:

I personally know my sheriff and I don't believe he would support the letter, but i could be wrong.

Ah! There's the rub. Associations don't necessarily speak the wishes of the rank and file. Most often policies are determined by  a small handful of members who run said association. I'm sure there are many Sheriffs in this state that have no problem at all with Con Carry. But they won't speak out against their association because they may need something in the future. Gotta go along to get along. ya know. 

[gary_boom]

If I remember correctly several sheriffs in NE Tenn were against carry permits when they first were allowed. They changed their tune when they saw how many votes they were going to lose.

 

[Worriedman]

13 hours ago, robin48 said:

I personally know my sheriff and I don't believe he would support the letter, but i could be wrong.

Please ask him.  I am compiling a list, and have responses from those Sheriff's I know personally.  I have received a number of responses from Constituents or House Representatives in those Counties, and two outstanding ones (attached).  

Otherwise I have received responses from these in support of the bills before the House  criminal justice sub committee:

Sheriff Brian Duke of Henderson County, Sheriff Karl Jackson of Obion County, Sheriff Daryl Young of Cannon County, Sheriff Kilpatrick of Lewis County, Sheriff Guy Buck of McNairy County, Sheriff James D. Storie of Clay County, Sheriff Steve Lawson of Bradley County, Sheriff James Lee Berrong of Blount County, Sheriff Dexter Lunceford of Carter County and Sheriff Steve Ross of Polk County.

Those who were not polled but oppose Constitutional Carry and favor implied consent and oppose any but concealed carry:

Sheriff John Mehr of Madison County, Sheriff Jeff Box of Dyer County

Those who favor implied consent and would allow Constitutional 
Concealed Only Carry:

Sheriff Paul Thomas of Gibson County

Guy Buck Letter.pdf Dwayne Kilpatrick Letter.pdf

Edited March 1, 2021 by Worriedman

[Worriedman]

Per Tennessee law, see 48-101-501.  Although the term “charitable organization” is defined in the Act, the term “charitable purposes” is not.    Under the TN statute, it is a crime to use charitable funds for non-charitable purposes.  While IRS regs allow charities to engage in a minimal amount of lobbying activity related to their mission statement, the Tennessee statute makes no reference to lobbying as a charitable purpose.

 

§ 48-101-501. Definitions

As used in this part, unless the context otherwise requires:

(1)    “Charitable organization” means a group which is or holds itself out to be a benevolent, educational, voluntary health, philanthropic, humane, patriotic, religious or eleemosynary organization, or for the benefit of law enforcement personnel, firefighters, or other persons who protect the public safety, or any person who solicits or obtains contributions solicited from the public for charitable purposes. A chapter, branch, area, office or similar affiliate or any person soliciting contributions within the state for a charitable organization which has its principal place of business outside the state shall be a charitable organization for the purposes of this part. “Charitable organization” does not include any authorized individual who solicits, by authority of the organization, solely on behalf of a registered or exempt organization, or on behalf of an organization excluded from the definition of charitable organization;

(2)    …..

 

 

§ 48-101-513. False or misleading practices; authorization requirement; disclosures; records; conflict of interest

(a) No charitable organization subject to this part shall solicit funds from the public, except for charitable purposes, or expend funds raised for charitable purposes for noncharitable purposes.

(b) Unfair, false, misleading or deceptive acts and practices affecting the conduct of solicitations for contributions are declared unlawful. No person shall use or intend to use false or materially misleading advertising or promotional material in connection with any solicitation for a charitable organization or a charitable purpose. It is the intent of the general assembly that the courts in interpreting this provision should look to the judicial interpretations given the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act, compiled in title 47, chapter 18, part 1, and § 5(A)(1) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. § 45(a)(1)), for guidance.

(c)….

§ 48-101-515. Crimes and offenses

Any person who willfully and knowingly violates any provisions of this part or who willfully and knowingly gives false or incorrect information to the secretary of state, in filing statements or reports required by this part, whether such report or statement is verified or not, commits a Class B misdemeanor for the first offense, punishable as provided in § 40-35-111, and for the second and any subsequent offense commits a Class E felony.

Edited March 1, 2021 by Worriedman

[tacops]

I have a fund raising letter from the TSA laying on the table just waiting for me to send a check.  Considering the fact I am a retired LEO I was planning on doing so.  This just saved me some money.  I will do something direct to benefit my locals.

Through my career I found that the higher one is in the command chain of Law Enforcement, the more they tend to follow the direction of the political winds.  I would venture to say that a large number, if not the majority, of the sheriffs do not personally support this position.  Especially if they came up through the ranks.  However, the those making money sitting in the offices of the TSA rubbing elbows with politicians tend to get dirty elbows. 

[m16ty]

On 2/28/2021 at 5:54 PM, Chucktshoes said:

I wonder what it would take to get the IRS involved since it is obvious that according to the letter of the law, the TN Sheriff’s Association is engaged in disallowed activity.
 

I got jokes today. The government never goes after its own for wrongdoing. 

The joke is even more funny in this political climate. If the Sherriff's Association was advocating something pro-gun, I'm sure they would be dealt with swiftly. If it fits their agenda though, the federal government is more than happy to look the other way. Bottom line is, expect zero help from any federal agency, no matter how outrageous the infraction.   

[m16ty]

I know the president of the TN Sherriff's Association, he used to be my Sherriff (Jeff Bledsoe of Dickson County). I need to talk to him about this. I'll talk to him and see what he says.

[Capbyrd]

The TSA actively fought against us getting automatic knives in the state too.  They testified that a switchblade made the same sound as a pump shotgun being racked and was just as dangerous. 

[hillbillyfab]

On 3/5/2021 at 8:25 PM, m16ty said:

I know the president of the TN Sherriff's Association, he used to be my Sherriff (Jeff Bledsoe of Dickson County). I need to talk to him about this. I'll talk to him and see what he says.

Just wondering if you had a chance yet to talk to Jeff. I'm curious his response as, I am a Dickson county resident also.

[m16ty]

13 hours ago, hillbillyfab said:

Just wondering if you had a chance yet to talk to Jeff. I'm curious his response as, I am a Dickson county resident also.

No, I haven’t. We attend the same church, but I didn’t see him last week.

[Pain103]

TSA has always been a political organization. They could endorse or not endorse something and it doesn't really imply the actual deputies have that opinion. I'm all for it and everybody in my office is also. I just wish if you have a permit they gave you some benefit beside the reciprocity like no back ground check.