Sparks fly in Tuesday’s edition of Aaron’s Analysis on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy, as official guest host Aaron Gulbransen directly confronts swirling around the politics of Gov. Lee’s proposed “red flag” gun control law.
In a rare moment, Gulbransen shares shocking details about his past and how that informs his insights into what he thinks which measures will and won’t pass during the upcoming special session.
TRANSCRIPT
Aaron Gulbransen: So, I wanna set this up: I absolutely despise talking about myself other than telling funny stories, but I feel I must point out a few things so the audience can understand where I’m coming from in general, and how I view things politically in special session.
The audience knows me, of course, as the official guest host of this program and the executive director of The Tennessee Faith and Freedom Coalition.
I am, long ago, a Blue State refugee.
I got my start in politics as a volunteer for the Long Island Coalition for Life, the oldest pro-life organization in the country, folding and distributing their newsletter.
My first paid campaign was in the year 2000 against Hillary Clinton. Years later, I moved to Virginia and 2016 was full circle for me as I campaigned for President Trump with former Virginia Governor and Ambassador Jim Gilmore.
I’ve told Chuck Schumer to his face where to go in a not-appropriate-for-radio message – live and in-person.
Hillary Clinton staffers have shoved me.
Barack Obama blasted the organization I worked for in 2010 because of the work that I directly did.
I fought the establishment constantly in Virginia and my favorite year was beating them nine times in a row in elections.
I received anonymous death threats nailed to my door in places I live because of my stand for conservatism.
I even had a shotgun one time held in my head while I was working, and I was told I was gonna die.
I worked behind the scenes for President Trump’s first impeachment defense team. I worked nearly 24/7 on election integrity issues that came up as a result of the 2020 presidential election for several months.
In 2020, I was assaulted by a Justin Jones supporter, while “comrade” Jones himself personally screamed in my face because I had the misfortune to be walking past one of his events because I lived two blocks away, and I committed the ultimate sin of having a MAGA hat on my head.
Not a single member of my board is actually COVID vaccinated, just so y’all know.
I personally fought the mask and vaccine mandates to the point where I lost employment in 2021. I then went to work for The Tennessee Star and moved on to my current position.
Those are just the Cliff Notes of my lifetime of fighting for conservatism and the constitution. I spend every day of the week working to eradicate child in human trafficking and defend the constitution.
That leads to the special session, and I’m gonna be clear for the thousandth time: there will be no “red flag” law. The conservatives have already won the victory on that specific issue.
The General assembly has been clear since the very beginning, and they’re sticking to their guns. There is no secret backroom deal made by the General Assembly with Governor Lee and The Faith of Freedom Coalition to use a very important anti-trafficking measure as a backdoor to enact Marxist gun control as some insane people have suggested.
To be clear, our position from the start was that the special session should not have occurred due to Marxist threats and constitutional concerns. When it became clear that there was definitely going to be a special session, we modified our efforts to ensure that child trafficking was entered into the conversation because it’s so important -never giving up our defense of the Constitution and working to ensure that no “red flag” law made any traction.
That effort included talking with the stakeholders in both the executive and the legislative branch.
Everyone involved in those conversations was forthright about their positions, as were we. What we all agreed on was the fight to destroy the scourge of child and human trafficking and we also agreed from the very beginning, everyone involved at the Tennessee General Assembly was never going to pass anything resembling a “red flag” or ERPO [Extreme Risk Protection Orders] law.
I’m not the dictator of the state of Tennessee; none of us listening to the show is solely responsible for the government of Tennessee.
If I was, I personally would’ve had a special session solely on child trafficking years ago; but I’m not, and I work with in the system and do with what I have. We’re moving forward in lockstep, the Governor and the General Assembly, working to save children on this specific issue together because we must end in the scourge of modern-day slavery.
Ever since the Covenant murders by a radical transgender perpetrator happened, the Marxists have renewed their push for gun control, and the Tennessee Faith and Freedom Coalition. And our allies in the General Assembly, which include Jack Johnson, William Lamberth, Rusty Grills, Jason Zachary, Jody Barrett – many others have stood in the gap for the Constitution.
You could say what you’d like about the previous rhetoric from the executive branch on “red flag” or ERPO laws towards the end of regular session. But the bottom line is the clear picture is very different than what it looked like four months ago.
It was always clear that the General Assembly would never allow “red flag” law or any other Marxist proposal.
And as an aside, this is directly aimed at people lying about people like William Lambert’s record: He personally voted against and killed a late-filed “red flag” bill that was proposed during session.
And no one has done more work in the State Senate to protect our Second Amendment rights this year than Jack Johnson. The governor has issued a call for special session with 18 areas upon which bills can be brought up. For the record, that doesn’t mean that those 18 areas are bills themselves or will result in the passing of a bad bill.
I will say: I, personally, wouldn’t have picked those 18 areas. But again, the call is a structure of what is allowed to be proposed. I want to reiterate, it was a giant win for conservatives that the governor’s official list of priorities for special session did not include a “red flag” or ERPO.
The general Assembly, and groups like The Tennessee Faith and Freedom Coalition who engaged directly with Governor Lee and his administration instead of screaming and cursing 24/7 at him – and I give the bulk of the credit for this to the general assembly – made that happen.
Now, I do wanna recognize that conservatives have been screwed for so long by people like Mike Pence, John Boehner, George W. Bush, and Bill Frist, that they are distrustful. That isn’t a bad thing. Like President Reagan said was so famous for saying: Trust, but verify.
And I’ll add to that, though: Do it for yourself.
We on this program can provide you with vital information, but why don’t you call your legislators and ask them questions very respectfully about individual bills and the work that you’re doing. I repeat, ask the questions, talk to them. Also, listen on what they say, and look at how they vote after they make a commitment.
It’s just simple trust but verify.
You’ll see for yourself as you are about to on the “red flag” issue. That the good members of the Tennessee General Assembly are telling you the truth of when they take a stand. Don’t let other people do your thinking for you. No matter how fancy the eyeliner is that they wear on their Instagram videos.
Most of the organizations taking positions on the special session are doing a great deal of substantial fundraising on it.
That’s both the Marxists and the ones that are styled to be on the right.
My organization, by and large has not fundraised on this issue. I think we sent one email out four months ago. We endeavor to tell the truth and report what we know to be true. The truth is that the General Assembly is full of hardworking, good, conservative people who have stood for the Constitution and have already ensured that there will never be a “red flag” law.
I am one.
I’m very proud of them and I am a very bit sickened that some people in their naked quest for power or pocket lining continue to lie to the good hearted, conservative, grassroots people of the state of Tennessee.
There will be no “red flag” law.
That’s it.
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio or Spotify.
