Tennessee Legislature Delays Gun Bills Following Nashville School Shooting
Image Credit: Terrancee (talk) / CC
The Center Square [By Jon Styf] –
A day after shootings at a Nashville school left three students, three teachers and the shooter dead, Tennessee’s Senate Judiciary Committee delayed all of its gun-related bills one week.
The committee was set to consider Senate Bill 1325, which would allow a teacher to carry a concealed handgun on school property with a permit. The Legislature is also considering a bill to lower the age for a concealed carry permit to 18 along with competing versions of the bill in the House and Senate regarding whether loaded long guns will be allowed to be carried in public.
“All bills related to anything to do with guns or that situation are rolled to next week,” said Sen. Todd Gardenhire, R-Chattanooga, the committee chair. “Yesterday was a tragic event in the country and the state and in Nashville. We need to be respectful of those victims.”
The committee heard a prayer for the shooting victims after the announcement.
Metro Nashville Police released body cam video Tuesday of the shooter’s arrival at the school along with releasing a photo of the Honda Fit driven by 28-year-old Audrey Elizabeth Hale.
The body camera footage came from Rex Engelbert, a four-year veteran, and Michael Collazo, a nine-year veteran, of Metro Nashville Police. The department said the two were part of a team that first arrived at the Covenant School campus and then shot and killed Hale.
Tennessee’s Black Caucus of State Legislators issued a statement Tuesday afternoon regarding the shooting.
“This tragedy should serve as a clarion call for responsible gun ownership,” the statement said. “128 mass shootings in America this year and today is day 87 of the year 2023! When will enough be enough?
“Our ‘prayers’ need to become more thoughtful and intentional regarding this issue. The TBCSL respects our Second Amendment right to carry, yet this issue of senseless mass murder has become out of control. We have got to do more to protect children and all those providing an education for them. We have done nothing to address the root problem: proliferation of militarized guns in our communities.”
About the Author: Jon Styf, The Center Square Staff Reporter – Jon Styf is an award-winning editor and reporter who has worked in Illinois, Texas, Wisconsin, Florida and Michigan in local newsrooms over the past 20 years, working for Shaw Media, Hearst and several other companies. Follow Jon on Twitter @JonStyf.
The so called Black Caucus, better known as the radical left wing Democrats, only know how to parrot the talking points of their leaders
Gun don’t kill people, PEOPLE KILL PEOPLE!
This is sickening because all they want is total control and zero accountability for the people that kill others!
WooHoo! Mission Accomplished! Another “timely” staged event to go after guns achieves another goal of chipping away at our GOD-given gun rights!
… “Tennessee’s Black Caucus of State Legislators issued a statement Tuesday afternoon regarding the shooting…This tragedy should serve as a clarion call for responsible gun ownership,” the statement said. “128 mass shootings in America this year and today is day 87 of the year 2023! When will enough be enough?”..
It will be enough when EVERY PERSON is armed and ready and all the criminals KNOW IT.. the shooter chose a school that was unarmed with a resource officer. She KNEW it. Any one that thinks limiting guns is the answer is an idiot.