Activists forming human chain in Nashville on Covenant school shooting anniversary

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — When a former student killed three 9-year-old children and three adults at Covenant School in Nashville, a group of Tennessee mothers decided they had to do something.

They formed Voices for a Safer Tennessee and within days had begun planning a 3-mile human chain from Vanderbilt University Children’s Hospital, where shooting victims were taken to the Capitol after last year’s violence.

“We didn’t know initially when we put this together whether 10 people would show up or 500 people would show up,” said Nicole Smith, vice chair of the Voices for a Safer Tennessee board. It turned out that 10,000 people participated in Linking Arms for Change. On Wednesday, the one-year anniversary of the Covenant shooting, they are joining forces again and expect an even larger turnout.

“We knew our community was longing for a way to come together, a way to show their support,” Smith said of their first event. “And I think ultimately we believed that this would happen. .”

It’s part of a wave of advocacy around gun violence. A group of Covenant mothers have become regulars at Capitol. Over the summer, members of their group prayed every day for 40 days on the steps of the Capitol before a special session on school safety.

The hope is to pressure the Republican-controlled state legislature to address issues such as temporarily removing firearms from anyone deemed a threat to themselves or others.

Across the country, the families of many victims have become strong advocates for gun safety, often sharing emotionally moving stories of tragedies. But their efforts have yielded mixed results as the wave of mass killings continues. Democratic-led states have largely tightened gun restrictions, while Republican-led states have relaxed them.

So far, Tennessee’s Republican lawmakers have opposed nearly every bill that would limit who has access to a gun, rejecting proposals on the subject from Democrats — and even one from the Republican governor — during regular annual sessions and a special session inspired by the Covenant. to shoot.

Republicans are proposing a measure that would require someone to enter a treatment facility if they are found incompetent to stand trial on certain criminal charges, and would make it a misdemeanor for them to own a gun.

And lawmakers have gone along with other changes, supported by some Covenant parents, that do not directly address guns, including a bill that would require public and private schools to determine why a fire alarm went off before evacuating children from classrooms. In addition, several bills are being prepared that would make it a crime for someone to threaten mass violence, including on school grounds or during a school party.

At the same time, Republicans have made progress on proposals to expand access to guns and protect manufacturers.

Last year, they passed a law that strengthens lawsuit protections for gun and ammunition dealers, manufacturers and sellers. This year, they are one vote in the Senate away from allowing private schools with kindergarten classes to have guns on campus. They also introduced an amendment to the “right to keep, bear and bear Arms” in the Tennessee Constitution, which would broaden the right beyond defense and remove a section that allows lawmakers to “bear of weapons to prevent crime. ”

Still, Smith said they are not deterred. Their polling shows that most Tennesseans support the moderate gun laws they propose, such as universal background checks. They also know that this kind of advocacy is a marathon, not a sprint. In the year since the shooting, their coalition has only grown stronger. They now have about 25,000 members representing each of Tennessee’s 95 counties, Smith said.

“We know our community is still grieving,” she said. “We know that the children and families who lost loved ones and those who survived are still grieving. But we know they are also hopeful that we can create a safer Tennessee.”