Jacob Francy, '26
On March 27, 2023, Nashville went silent.
It was a regular Monday morning when the news broke. An armed shooter had entered the Covenant School. Three 9-year-olds and three teachers were shot and killed before Metro Police eliminated the shooter, a 28-year-old who was also a former student. It was the deadliest mass shooting in Tennessee’s history.
As we mark the one-year anniversary of this horrific event, we should first honor and support the families of the victims and Covenant. Secondly, action must be taken.
Gun violence is the leading cause of death among children and teens today, more than cars, poisoning, cancer, or any other imaginable disease. We must stop the spread of this horrible disease. Tennessee has yet to pass one sufficient state law to protect our children from firearms. Our local politicians have defended the 2nd Amendment of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to bear arms to every citizen. But it’s about time something needs to be done.
Tennessee is one of the easiest places in America to purchase a gun. According to Tennessee State Law, any citizen can legally carry a firearm in public, even if they don’t have a permit. This capability for anyone to acquire a gun has been the very reason people like the Covenant shooter, Aidan Hale, have had access to multiple firearms. In 2022, Tennessee sold the most firearms in the United States with over 660,000 weapons. While it’s unrealistic to implement the removal of all guns or even the sales of them altogether, there are certainly other steps that could help provide safety and guidance as we navigate this issue. Some ideas, which have been shown to be favorable among the American people include:
Universal Background Checks: Requiring everyone purchasing a gun to go through screening to ensure they are safe; 86% of Americans support this
Gun License Requirements: Requiring every person buying a gun to have a license to own a firearm, which also might require going to classes for gun safety
Even though I agree that we should honor and remember the victims of such tragedies, society must place action in front of our words. Simple proposals, such as those above, are extremely favorable by the public, still allow every eligible citizen the right to a gun, but they ensure the safety of gun owners in the process. So, if our state legislature hasn’t passed gun reform, what have we done?
Governor Lee has passed 2 pieces of legislation that could, even the slightest bit, help Tennessee’s gun violence numbers. He approved more grants for public safety officers in schools and made gun locks free to residents who request them. More than ⅔ of the Tennessee state legislature, Republicans and Democrats alike, are benefiting from the National Rifle Association’s (NRA) lobbying to keep firearms on the streets, placing more money in the pockets of powerful and wealthy gun sellers. It almost appears that doing anything more to prevent gun violence will lose them their biggest donor.
Tennessee has a problem, and it isn’t a complicated one. If our true goal is to decrease gun violence to its minimum, then putting more guns out on the street will not work. The only way we can combat it is by ensuring the safety of every gun owner and instilling trust in our citizens.
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