Parents of shooting survivors outraged as Tennessee Republicans refuse to pass gun reforms

Tennessee lawmakers ended a special session of the state Legislature on Tuesday without passing any meaningful reforms to the state’s gun laws, despite pleas from the parents of survivors of the deadly school shooting in March at the private Covenant School elementary school in Nashville. 

Some of the parents, wearing Covenant t-shirts and carrying signs calling for firearm safety, were seen crying in the halls of the Capitol as lawmakers adjourned without passing gun reforms. 

Three 9-year-old students and three adults were shot to death by a former student of the school on March 27, 2023.

“We held a special session following the extraordinary tragedy of a mass shooting that took place at the Covenant School, and we took no meaningful action,” said Shoop Neumann, the mother of a Covenant survivor, according to the Tennessean. “The divisiveness we have all witnessed makes us long for a unified community. We need legislators on both sides of the aisle to be able to have respectful, thoughtful debate regarding potential solutions to end gun violence.”

Republican Gov. Bill Lee had called the special session earlier in August, saying in a statement that he wanted members of the General Assembly to “identify thoughtful, practical measures to strengthen public safety across our state, including steps to support law enforcement, address mental health, prevent violent crime and stop human trafficking.”

However, by the end of the session, the only thing state lawmakers had done was codify an executive order Lee had signed in April that required “entities with obligations to report” to provide “relevant information” on Tennesseans’ criminal and mental health history to the state background check system within 72 hours of receiving it. 

Mary Joyce, whose daughter was friends with one of the children killed in the massacre, said: “Today we will go home and we’ll look at our children in the eyes, many of whom were sheltered from gunfire that tragic day on March 27. They will ask what our leaders have done over the past week and a half to protect them. As a mother, I’m going to have to look at my 9-year-old in the eye and tell her nothing.”

Parents of Covenant School survivors had spent days at the state Capitol urging lawmakers to pass gun reforms, including safe gun storage laws and requirements for doctors to take “certain steps” if they feel their patients intend to commit bodily harm.

“None of us have seen our children this week because of the long hours and early mornings we have spent here at the Capitol, but then again some of our friends will never ever see their children again,” Melissa Alexander, the mother of a Covenant School survivor, told a Nashville Fox News affiliate on Aug. 24.

At one point, Covenant School parents were kicked out of a hearing at which lawmakers were debating allowing concealed carry on school campuses after the parents clapped when the bill was shelved.

Tennessee Democratic lawmakers slammed their Republican counterparts, who hold majorities in both chambers, for not taking action. 

“No one should leave this building today saying we made Tennessee safer,” Democratic state Senate Minority Leader Raumesh Akbari said. “Because that is simply not true. We didn’t enact any new policies, we didn’t meet the needs of these parents, who are just crying out for us to do something.”

The situation in Tennessee mirrors the situation in other states and nationally, with Democratic lawmakers calling for and attempting to pass gun reforms in the wake of mass shootings but being blocked by Republican lawmakers who refuse to pass any limits on firearms, citing the Second Amendment.

Polls show, however, that majorities of Americans want stricter gun laws. 

A CNN poll from May found 64% of Americans want stricter gun laws, including 94% who want to block people convicted of felonies or with mental health problems from owning guns.

As for the Covenant school parents, Neumann said they are not done fighting for gun reforms in their state.

“We will be back in January,” she said.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.