Tenn. Senate confirms Gov. Lee’s education appointee, whose company sold ammo to multiple mass shooters

The Tennessee state Senate confirmed Gov. Bill Lee’s (R) Board of Education appointee Jordan Mollenhour Thursday morning by a 26-6 vote. An online retailer Mollenhour owns sold ammunition to multiple mass killers, including a school shooter.

Mollenhour owns LuckyGunner.com, which is currently still fighting a Texas lawsuit where it allegedly sold ammo to a 17-year-old who later attacked Santa Fe High School in 2018. The 17-year-old killed 10 people and injured 13 others; it is one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history.

The lawsuit argues that LuckyGunner.com sold the shooter dozens of rounds of handgun and shotgun ammunition without checking his age, despite the shooter using his real name. LuckyGunner.com denies any wrongdoing.

LuckyGunner.com faced another lawsuit in 2015 for allegedly selling over 4,000 rounds of ammunition used by James Holmes in the 2014 Aurora, Colo. theater shooting. A federal judge dismissed the case, however.

Sen. Jack Johnson (R-Franklin), who introduced Lee’s Senate joint resolution to confirm Mollenhour, defended the appointee by incorrectly claiming that the Texas lawsuit was dismissed and is only a civil lawsuit. The Texas Supreme Court ruled last month that LuckyGunner.com must face the lawsuit, where the prosecution contends that the website broke federal law by selling ammunition to a minor.

Johnson continued to downplay the lawsuit by arguing that people like Mollenhour, who co-owns the Knoxville-based Mollenhour Gross LLC and 2A Group LLC private investment companies, are regularly sued.

“It is common for successful businesspeople to have ongoing litigation at any given time,” Johnson said.

Sen. Jeff Yarbro (D-Nashville) harshly criticized Johnson and Lee during the session for apparently not knowing all the details of Mollenhour’s active lawsuit.

“If [Lee’s] administration didn’t know the full details about this, that’s inexcusable. But if they did know, that’s worse,” Yarbro said. “There are seven million people in this state. We ought to be able to find one who’s not involved in ongoing litigation about possible responsibility in a school shooting.”

Although Mollenhour has a juris doctor degree in law from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, he has not worked in education in any capacity.

All six Senate Democrats voted against Mollenhour’s confirmation after a brief debate, and all 26 Senate Republicans voted for it (one GOP senator, Joey Hensley, did not vote.) As a member of the Tennessee State Board of Education, Mollenhour will serve for five years as a representative for the second U.S. Congressional district, with the possibility for reappointment.

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