UNITED STATES NEWS

After school shooting, Tennessee lawmakers not expected to take up gun control in special session

Aug 21, 2023, 11:51 AM

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee lawmakers will gavel in Monday for a special session stemming from a shooting at a Nashville elementary school that left six dead, including three young children.

However, even after hundreds of community organizers, families, protesters and many more spent months asking lawmakers to consider passing gun control measures in response to the shooting, the GOP-dominated Statehouse is unexpected to do so.

Instead, Republican leaders are focused on advancing proposals that would toughen penalties for violent criminals, arguing that placing limitations on weapons would do very little to deter those who want to cause harm. Other GOP members have introduced proposals to boost mental health resources and school security measures.

On March 27, a 27-year-old shooter opened fire at a Nashville Christian elementary school and killed six people, including three young students. The shooting contributed to a record pace for mass killings in the U.S. this year and renewed scrutiny over Tennessee’s relaxed gun laws.

Republican Gov. Bill Lee initially pushed lawmakers to pass legislation that would temporarily remove guns from people showing signs of potentially violent behavior. But despite holding hundreds of meetings with lawmakers and policy experts over the summer, Lee recently conceded that he didn’t have the necessary sponsors to introduce the proposal for the special session.

On Monday, at a news conference with Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, actor Melissa Joan Hart detailed how she helped a class of kindergartners fleeing The Covenant School shooting across a highway.

Hart said that she had moved to Nashville from Connecticut and that her kids had attended a school near Sandy Hook Elementary when 26 children were shot and killed there in 2012. She has said her children attend a school next to the private Christian Covenant School.

“I’m standing here before you today, 11 years later, almost a thousand miles away from Fairfield County (in Connecticut). And yet we’re having the same conversation that we did on December 14, 2012, and every day since. Our cries aren’t being heard, and our kids are bearing the burden,” Hart said.

Some opposing changes to gun laws also were holding demonstrations on Monday, including a brief appearance of members of the Proud Boys, the neo-fascist group of self-described “Western chauvinists.” The group unfurled their flag while pro-gun control supporters held a prayer outside the Tennessee Capitol before leaving.

United States News

Associated Press

New GOP-favored Georgia congressional map nears passage as the end looms for redistricting session

ATLANTA (AP) — A Georgia special session to redraw congressional and legislative voting district maps is likely to end Thursday after a House committee on Wednesday advanced a Republican-favored congressional map that targets Democratic U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath’s current district. However, the wrangling is unlikely to end there, with those who brought the challenges that […]

16 minutes ago

President Joe Biden delivers remarks at the White House Tribal Nations Summit at the Department of ...

Associated Press

Biden’s campaign will not commit yet to participating in general election debates in 2024

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — President Joe Biden’s campaign is not yet committing to general election debates next year, the latest sign that a staple of modern White House campaigns may not be in play in 2024. Quentin Fulks, Biden’s top deputy campaign manager, told reporters Wednesday that the president’s reelection campaign would “look at the […]

19 minutes ago

Associated Press

Nevada grand jury indicts 6 fake Donald Trump electors

RENO, Nev. (AP) — A Nevada grand jury indicted six Republicans who submitted certificates to Congress falsely declaring Donald Trump the winner of the 2020 presidential election in their state, making Nevada the third to seek charges against so-called “fake electors.” Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford began investigating the fake electors last month. He said […]

25 minutes ago

Associated Press

Juanita Castro, anti-communist sister of Cuban leaders Fidel and Raul, dies in Miami at 90

MIAMI (AP) — Juanita Castro, the sister of Cuban rulers Fidel and Raúl Castro who worked with the CIA against their communist government, has died in Miami at 90. Florida had been her home since shortly after fleeing the island nearly 60 years ago. Journalist María Antonieta Collins, who co-wrote Juanita Castro’s 2009 book, “Fidel […]

28 minutes ago

Associated Press

Authorities responding to reports of multiple victims in shooting at University of Nevada, Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Police officers were responding Wednesday to a “confirmed active shooter” in a building at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, the university announced in a post on the social media platform X. “This is not a test,” the university wrote. “RUN-HIDE-FIGHT.” Las Vegas police said in a separate post on X […]

39 minutes ago

FILE - Republican presidential candidates from left, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, Florida Gov....

Associated Press

Four GOP candidates will be on the debate stage, while Trump holds a fundraiser. Follow live updates

Four Republican presidential hopefuls — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie — will be participating in Wednesday night’s debate in Alabama. The early front-runner for the GOP nomination, former President Donald Trump, will be holding a fundraiser in Florida instead. […]

40 minutes ago

Sponsored Articles

Follow @KTAR923...

Valley residents should be mindful of plumbing ahead of holidays

With Halloween in the rear-view and more holidays coming up, Day & Night recommends that Valley residents prepare accordingly.

Follow @KTAR923...

The best ways to honor our heroes on Veterans Day and give back to the community

Veterans Day is fast approaching and there's no better way to support our veterans than to donate to the Military Assistance Mission.

...

Midwestern University

Midwestern University: innovating Arizona health care education

Midwestern University’s Glendale Campus near Loop 101 and 59th Avenue is an established leader in health care education and one of Arizona’s largest and most valuable health care resources.

After school shooting, Tennessee lawmakers not expected to take up gun control in special session