After Tennessee special session on guns, public safety, are our kids safer? Readers react.

These readers are responding to the Tennessee General Assembly special session on public safety, which concluded on Aug. 29. If you would like to share your viewpoint on this or other issues, write a letter to the editor of 250 words or fewer to letters@tennessean.com. Include your full name and address for verification purposes.

Children are sacrificed to gun idolatry

Here are three observations from the Tennessee special session.

First, the supermajority seems to have forgotten the three secrets to a long and happy life in Mayberry: don’t play leapfrog with elephants, never pet a tiger lest its tail is wagging, and never ever mess with the Ladies Auxiliary.

It was mostly women in the balcony, and I really do not know how one can listen to these mothers and ignore them. I saw on someone’s phone where a blogger for the Tennessee Firearms Association, who seem not to be ignored, wrote on the first day of being surrounded by “commie mommies.”

These mommies are not commies; they just do not want any other mommies to deal with what they are still going through.

When most Tennesseans recognize that children are suffering even to death because guns designed for soldiers too easily get into the wrong hands, and want lawmakers to use their common sense to do something about it, and those lawmakers instead allow children to remain at risk, what conclusion is there except that these children are being sacrificed to the idolatry of gun profiteers?

As God once spoke in a movie through the voice of George Burns: “If you want to make money, sell shoes.”

Perhaps a prophet will tell us that the number of people who share the trauma visited on these parents, and by way of common friendship even the state’s first family, will eventually reach some critical mass of voters who will demand a commonsense response. Perhaps a good social science mathematician can predict when this critical mass might be reached. We would hope that our leaders could use the brains the good Lord gave them to make such a prediction unnecessary. Maybe in January?

Steve Wolf, Nashville 37209

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A Glock can defend against a mass shooter, Rep. Jones

At a House session on August 28, during discussion of a bill clarifying private school policy on carrying firearms, Rep. Justin Jones objected to anyone carrying at any school.

Among his arguments he asked: “What is one little Glock against an AR-15?”

Last March, I wrote a letter to the editor. It was the only one of roughly 40 published that thanked the Metro Nashville Police Department for ending the tragedy at The Covenant School, and one of only a handful that extended compassion to the victims and anyone who knew them.

That letter also shared the story of the Greenwood Park Mall shooting the previous summer in Indiana and how Elisjsha Dicken, in 15 seconds, hit the AR-15 wielding perpetrator eight times out of ten from 40 yards away with his “little Glock.”

This was in sharp contrast to the Uvalde, Texas shooting two months earlier, where hundreds of police with all their rifles, gear, armor, and training (none of which Dicken had) spent an hour waiting outside while multiple children died.

When a gunman is trying to kill you and those around you “starting a gunfight,” as Jones put it, can actually be a good idea. That's what Elisjsha did and that's what the MNPD did.

It's not “reprehensible, asinine, or insulting” to believe that's a real solution. I'd like to see the topic of armed school staff revisited in the future with more informed debate as I continue to believe it's a vital component of preventing mass murder there.

Neil Graham, Nashville 37221

Opinion column: Tennessee special session public safety ends with drama and opportunity | Plazas

Are our children safer?

Our Governor Lee showed us his fine leadership by calling for a special session of his legislature. Too bad they followed Lee’s example of not doing anything about gun control.

I admire the mothers from The Covenant School, but with a do-nothing GOP legislature and governor, the children are not any safer.

Knox McCharen, Nashville 37217

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Consider the damage assault weapons do

The results of the latest state legislature have not resulted in the changes wanted those advocating improved gun control. The reason given is the Second Amendment of the Constitution. Nothing is shown about what happens when someone is shot with a military weapon.

The objective other than the Constitution appears the NRA and those advocating military and automatic firing weapons is to maim those shot beyond just stopping someone. If the damage to people is considered, more change is possible.

Donald Wade, Nashville 37211

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We have too many shootings still

I wonder how many viewers of a recent local television newscast at 6:00 PM found irony (and worse) in the fact that after the story about how little our state legislators accomplished in the special session, the very next story dealt with the shooting of a person in a Citco on Brick Church Pike from outside the store? Too many loose guns in our state.

Helen Derryberry, Nashville 37215

Money poorly spent at the Capitol

Several weeks ago, when Governor Lee said he would call a special session to address school safety issues, I wrote a letter predicting that nothing would be done.

Well, the special session is over and the Republican House and Senate lived down to my expectations. They met for several days. The House put forth several bills, most of which had little to do with school or gun safety, and the Senate passed three of those bills without going forth on any of the others.

After looking at the bills that were passed, I firmly believe nothing was done to address gun safety and the measures to “harden” our schools were, at best, inadequate.

What the Republicans did succeed in doing was meet for several days, reinforce their expense accounts, and waste taxpayer dollars. Another successful session.

Albert  Hubbard, Hendersonville 37075

Let’s see those campaign donations

A lot of Tennesseans see the special session as a kind of trial between the gun lobby and concerned citizens. Let me act as my own attorney in the “court of public opinion.”

Said court is lately often used to sway public opinion well ahead of official government court trials, and I hereby claim my right to ask a pertinent question relating to the supermajority in the Tennessee state Senate and House: how much money has the NRA donated, both directly and indirectly, to these elected Republican in the past six years? I only ask because the supermajority’s inaction during the special session begs the question.

Tim O’Brien, Nashville 37204

Vote the lawmakers out

Censure Rep. Johnny Garrett.

Garrett, R-Goodlettsville, is a coward just like every other Republican who voted to ban signs and banners at the Capitol.

Doesn’t it make the people of Tennessee wonder what all these cowards are afraid of?

Then these same representatives want to ban anyone on the House floor who disagrees with them to speak. All they keep saying it is about decorum, but we all know the real truth here, don’t we? What about it, Tennesseans? How long are we as the voters going to keep these cowards in office?

Ruth Kindrat, White House 37188

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Gov. Lee proved me right: TN special session did nothing on gun safety