The deadly shooting at a Nashville suburban Christian school in March sparked an outcry among devastated parents, students and Democratic lawmakers who called for tighter gun laws in Tennessee, where they are notoriously weak. It also set off a series of political events, including the failed Republican-led banishment of two Democratic state representatives, Justin Jones and Justin Pearson of the “Tennessee Three”, for protesting guns on the House floor.
For a short time, with ample national attention and grassroots mobilization, Tennessee seemed poised to become the latest state to enact legislation on gun reform after a tragedy. The Republican governor, Bill Lee, who lost two family friends in the Covenant school, ordered stronger background checks and proposed an amendment to Tennessee law that would temporarily confiscate guns from individuals under a “mental health order of protection”.
But in late August, months of protest, advocacy and face-time with the governor ended in a whimper when the state legislature adjourned a special session without making any changes to Tennessee’s gun laws, leaving residents vulnerable as the number of gun deaths continues to increase in the state.
“This was so straining on my marriage, this was so straining on my son,” said Sarah Neumann, a Covenant school parent who attended every day of the special session to support new firearm and safety laws. “It seems like a game to them, to just gavel in and gavel out.”
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Lee had announced the August “public safety” special session after the legislature in May adjourned without bringing the order to a vote. Republican state lawmakers had decried Lee’s proposal and said any attempt to pass “red flag” laws, which so far exist in 21 states and allow courts to order the temporary removal of guns from people deemed a risk to others or themselves, was a “non-starter”. Lee denied that it was a red flag law, which he called a “toxic” political label.
Many parents applauded the governor’s call and Democrats said they were “cautiously optimistic” about passing laws on mental health and school safety. But the week quickly spiraled into what some described as a “pissing match” between the two Republican-dominated chambers of the Tennessee general assembly. The house sought to advance dozens of bills – though none would have limited access to guns – while the Senate tried to adjourn as quickly as possible.
“It ripped the veil away so that the world could see how much that place lacks empathy and compassion, and how swollen with pride some of the members are,” said Antonio Parkinson, a Democratic state representative.
While lawmakers in the house would end up filing more than a hundred bills, the senate killed all but three by the session’s end. Jeremy Faison, the chair of the house Republican caucus, described senate counterparts as “acting like ostriches and just sticking their head in the sand”. Along with other Republicans, he sought to advance some bills backed by Covenant parents, such as removing child autopsies from the public record.
After the second day, house Republicans shared a now-deleted photo on Twitter, now called X, and said: “Congratulations @tnsengop on receiving the 2023 Ostrich Egg! It must be egghausting sending so many bills to Gen Sub. instead of doing the work people sent us here to do.”
Faison later apologized for the stunt, but the infighting between Republicans continued as the House pushed the special session into another week.
“The beef that was going on between the senate and the house was a power flex,” said Charlane Oliver, a Democratic senator. “The conversation got lost around gun reform the day that we started.”
London Lamar, a Democratic state senator of Memphis, had just become a parent when she returned to the statehouse for the special session. “To come back so soon after giving birth, and they still won’t do anything, it’s extra frustrating, especially now after having a child,” she told the Guardian in a phone interview, as she held her two-week-old son.
Lamar said she was hopeful when the governor first called the special session, and even though it was unlikely to see meaningful action on guns, she thought it important to show up for potential improvements to school safety and mental health.
“But when we got here, and they weren’t even addressed, it’s like what’s the point of us even being here?” Lamar said. “I could have been in the bed with my feet up continuing to heal from my C-section. But instead I’m watching you all fight over nothing.”
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The Tennessee state legislature had previously demonstrated its aversion to motions for gun reform when house Republicans moved to expel three Democrats, Justin Jones, Justin Pearson and Gloria Johnson – who became known as the Tennessee Three – and revoked their committee assignments after they led chants against gun violence on the house floor after the Covenant shooting.
The expulsion drew national attention and accusations of racism when Johnson, who is white, became the only one to survive a two-thirds vote. Both Jones and Pearson have since been reinstated to their seats in the House, but their new national name recognition – and efforts to bolster the grassroots gun safety movement – couldn’t move the needle.
Neumann, the Covenant parent, said it was difficult for those advocating for gun reform to get seats in each of the chambers, especially in the house, where half of the seating was reserved for media and lobbyists, an unprecedented move.
On the session’s first day, Republicans also enacted a new rule banning people from carrying signs into the statehouse, which a judge later blocked. At one point, Covenant parents were swarmed by state troopers in the hallways of the statehouse after they were ejected from a subcommittee meeting for clapping.
“It really just showed the ability of having a few people with a powerful voice being able to have a lot of power over the process,” Neumann said.
When asked about criticism by Democratic lawmakers, the house speaker, Cameron Sexton, said in a statement: “The left can hardly pass a bill, so they continually try to divide us.”
He added: “While the house and senate are separate bodies, Republicans in the two chambers will always work together for the betterment of Tennessee and its citizens. I do know that next year, the house and senate will stand together united against leftist attacks on the second amendment.”
In a press conference after the legislature adjourned, Governor Lee said Covenant parents’ presence “made a difference” but avoided answering a question over whether he shared their frustrations with the lack of substantial change, saying: “It’s good when we make progress of any kind. And we have made progress, and we will continue to make progress.
“We brought this to a conclusion that moved our state forward and put us in a place to continue to move forward.”
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More lives will be lost to gun violence before the general assembly reconvenes in January.
The rate of shooting deaths in Tennessee has more than doubled over the last decade, and it grew the fastest among people under 19, jumping by 145% from 2011 to 2021 compared with 113% among all Tennesseans, according to a report by the Sycamore Institute, a non-partisan Tennessee-focused thinktank released in July. Gunfire was the leading cause of death for children ages one to 18 in Tennessee in 2021.
“The conversation kicked off in earnest because of a particular incident,” said Brian Straessle, Sycamore’s executive director, referring to the heightened calls for gun safety in Tennessee after the Covenant shooting. ”But clearly the trends, in terms of number and rates of folks in Tennessee who are dying as a result of gunfire, are going up, and have been for over a decade.”
Neumann, however, is not giving up and has her eye on the primaries. In Tennessee, an “open” primary state, voters are not required to register with a political party in order to obtain its primary ballot. Yet for a long time, she said primaries have drawn out the most ardent supporters of extreme candidates who prevail over more moderate opponents.
“I think it gives us a goal,” said Neumann. “Now we know what we need to do.”
