Tennessee legislators should be ashamed of ignoring protests against gun violence | Opinion
I have a message for the members of the Tennessee Legislature: Shame On You. Shame on you for spending time and taxpayer money on banning books and drag; trying to rename streets in Nashville and reducing the size of city councils.
Are these really the issues that are affecting Tennesseans the most? While kids are dying in our schools?
Shame on you for watching as 7,000 Tennesseans walked out of their classrooms to rally for gun safety at the State Capitol, and instead of listening, you moved to expel three lawmakers who stood in solidarity with their constituents. Shame on you for turning teachers into soldiers. When we demanded action on gun safety, we didn't ask to turn our schools into shooting ranges. We want them to be safe.
Shame on you for using your time to spite your cities. Shame on you for clamoring to make laws that the majority of Tennesseans don’t agree with. 80% of Tennesseans think that abortion should be legal under some conditions, and 48% identify as pro-choice, and you pass laws that outlaw it completely. The legislature shouldn’t be a playground for political extremism. That law will kill women in this state—if it hasn’t already. How can you say that you passed that law in the name of the child, then turn around and allow children to be gunned down in our schools?
Why I fear for my life
School shootings are not an if, but a when. Mass shootings are not an if, but a when. As a student at Vanderbilt University, I fear for my life every day in my own classroom.
Since I joined March For Our Lives last spring, I’ve worked with countless survivors and their heartbreaking stories of violence that have changed their lives irrevocably. How many more children will die from a preventable disease, the epidemic of gun violence? I’ve had to deal with the fallout of too many shootings at March For Our Lives: Buffalo, Uvalde, Highland Park, Denver, and Michigan State University. Now, it’s struck home —15 minutes from where I go to school.
I’m a sixth-generation Tennessean. From Cookeville, to Oakridge, to Columbia and Nashville, this state is my home. And my home is being plagued with violence: the Waffle House shooting, the Christmas bombing, thousands of guns stolen out of cars, the most incarcerated zip code in the country, and now, three children killed and three of their caregivers murdered. I want my hometown to be better. I want our people to be safe.
Instead, six people died in a school in Nashville on March 27. Our “leaders” respond by saying that the legislature won’t pass any new laws on guns. Instead, they want to make it easier. Recently, a federal judge quietly cleared the way for the state to lower the minimum age to buy a gun without a permit from 21 to 18. Shame.
Fight against threats to democracy
On Monday, 7,000 rallied at the State Capitol with the clear message: It’s time to stop fighting culture wars and start taking action on weapons of war.
Three lawmakers used their First Amendment right to march with us, proving that they value our lives more than poisoned gun-lobby money.
As they were with us, they were informed that Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton was moving to expel them because they've been rallying with young people since last week.
On Thursday, it was time to march for them again. As session began at 8 a.m., students, neighbors, and allies descended on the Capitol once again to stand up against this attempt to expel these lawmakers.
To any Tennessean with a conscience, we invite you to join us, cry with us, and demand that undemocratic act fall, and in its place, a future where our kids can bloom.
Brynn Jones is a legal associate with March For Our Lives, a co-organizer of the Nashville Walkout on April 3, a Vanderbilt student and grew up in Nashville.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee legislators should be ashamed of patronizing protesters
