It’s democracy in the dark without Nashville shooter manifesto’s release

“Democracy Dies in Darkness” is the (sometimes ironic) slogan of The Washington Post.

But it’s also a fair description of what’s happening in Tennessee, as the state Legislature is being called to a special session even as local and federal officials withhold information that might be critical to its decision-making.

Gov. Bill Lee ordered the special session to begin Aug. 21 in response to a March 27 mass shooting in which three adults and three children at the Covenant School, a Christian school in Nashville’s Green Hills neighborhood, were killed.

The Nashville Tennessean article refers only to “a shooter.”

The shooter was a female-to-male transgender shooter named Audrey Hale, aged 28, who left a manifesto before being killed by police. 

Hale had chosen to identify as a man, using the pronouns he/him. 

The manifesto included detailed plans put together over months to shoot up the school, according to reports just after the shooting from police who had seen it.

Unfortunately, they’re the only ones who have seen it. 

Local and federal authorities with access to the manifesto have refused to make its contents public.

Though Hale sent an Instagram message to a friend just before the shooting, saying, “One day this will make more sense. I’ve left more than enough evidence behind,” we haven’t seen that evidence.

Vivek Ramaswamy, running third in the GOP presidential primary, recently called for the manifesto’s release. He characterizes the government position as “stonewalled silence.”  

Well, I generally believe that when government officials don’t want us to know something, it’s because they fear we would think or act in ways they wouldn’t like if we knew it.

They seldom keep things secret that would make them look good. 

Instead it’s usually something that would reflect badly on them or someone they’re protecting. 

What could that be in this case? I don’t know, and they seem determined to keep it that way.

But beyond that, the Legislature is in a curious position. 

Lawmakers are being asked to debate and vote on legislative proposals being made only because of the March shooting, even as some of the most important facts are kept secret. 

Gov. Lee’s office says he’s called for the release of the manifesto, and it’s the Metro Nashville Police and the FBI keeping the lid on. 

But regardless of who’s keeping us in the dark, we’re being kept in the dark.

Reports in the spring indicated LGBTQ+ groups were trying to block the manifesto’s release, for fear it would reflect poorly on the trans community or inspire copycats. 

But as Ramaswamy notes, the government usually releases this sort of manifesto within 48 hours.

This one has been kept under wraps for more than four months.

National Review’s Dan McLaughlin sees a double standard: “Why are these groups taking this stance? They are plainly afraid that it would be bad to use the shooter’s words because this might cause people to blame other people who share some of the shooter’s ideas. But this is exactly what these groups, and their media advocates, would be doing if the tables were turned.

“Every sentient adult knows that if a conservative, biblically orthodox Christian shot up a transgender institution, these same people and groups would be pushing the press (which would not need the pushing) to publish the manifesto, precisely so that they could discredit people who shared some of the shooter’s ideas.”

Well, if we’ve learned anything over the last few years, it’s not to expect political evenhandedness from the media or from many law-enforcement agencies.

But the fact remains: A special session of the Legislature has been called because of a major news event, but much of the news is being kept under wraps.

Unlike some of the proposals that were floated earlier, Lee’s mental-health package doesn’t seem especially unreasonable to me: Expanding mental-health coverage, making psychiatric treatment easier to get and eliminating taxes on gun safes are all worth doing, as is expanding DNA collection at crime scenes. 

But it’s not clear any of these moves would have done anything to prevent the shooting that provides the reason for the special session.

America used to believe the public has a right to know the things it needs to know to engage in democratic self-government. 

Maybe it’s old fashioned, but some of us still do.

Glenn Harlan Reynolds is a professor of law at the University of Tennessee and founder of the InstaPundit.com blog.