Nashville Shooting
We are well aware of the devastating mass shootings we have faced as an American society and the proper gun reform legislature that has yet to pass through Congress. I can remember when I was in 6th grade and my friends and I had organized a walkout in reaction to the Stoneman Douglas High School (Parkland) shooting, as well as on April 20, the anniversary of the Columbine shooting in 1999. Our teachers supported us and marched with us. It was unifying and it sparked something in all of us that things were going to be different going forward.
There have been 14 school shootings this year: four months into 2023. We were kids back then - but we knew what a school day should look like and what it should not. Unfortunately, this is a reality that many politicians have yet to grasp. The American Public High School stereotype is horrifying. We say that it won’t happen to us until it does. Political elites argue the mental health epidemic or that these shooters are not representative of the many in possession. So how many kids have to keep dying and how many families have to be ripped apart for there to be substantial action taken toward our gun policies?
I never wanted to write or research about the nitty gritty of shooting after shooting and argue, as a high school teenager, for Congress to change its ways. This is a devastating subject to discuss and the realities of it all make it all the more painful. I hope through discussion and awareness there can be a meaningful acknowledgment of such tragedies and motivation to challenge the oppressive structures in place.
Nashville School Shooting
According to the New York Times, on March 28th, an armed shooter and former student of the Covenant School, a Private Academy in Nashville, Tennessee, killed 6 people - three elementary students and three staff members. Authorities have reported evidence of the massacre being premeditated and carefully planned. Audrey Hale, the active shooter that was killed by Nashville law enforcement, was characterized by her parents as being treated for an ‘emotional disorder.’ Hale was further described as ‘shy,’ ‘caring,’ and ‘hardworking,’ and those that knew them were shocked to find out the news. Police and family have made it known that Hale was transgender. Teachers and peers from the Tossi School of Art and Design, where Hale graduated last year, have expressed their surprise and love for Hale’s brilliant illustrations and artistic talent.
“When you work on a campus, there are always one or two people who are in the back of your mind that you think something could happen … she would have been the last person on that list.”
said Colomy, one of Hale’s former teachers.
Families of the Covenant School and all of Nashville are devastated over the targeting of their children. The entire nation is exhausted. This has been the largest school shooting since last year’s Uvalde, Texas, elementary school shooting that encompassed the deaths of nineteen students and two educators. There has been no change.
Distractions
In our country, those with mental illness do not have restrictions on their access to purchasing artillery. Nor do these individuals have the proper resources to cope with the challenges mental illness dictates. The GOP has used this argument more and more in an attempt to take away from unregulated access to guns. After the Uvalde shooting last May, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said, “We, as a state, we, as a society, need to do a better job with mental health … anybody who shoots somebody else has a mental health challenge, period.”
While there is a correlation between mental discrepancies and those responsible for firearm massacres, the fact of the matter is that a mental condition does not prohibit the purchasing or possession of a weapon. And the growing mental health epidemic is not respective to the United States. Our global community is affected by the realities of anxiety, stress, and depression put onto us over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic. So how can mental health be responsible for these mass shootings when nations with similar crises are not enduring a similar number of gunfire tragedies? But it is just us. Why? Because, according to numerous studies conducted by BBC News and the CDC, America now has more guns than people.
So how does combatting the production and employment of firearms begin with the revitalization of our nation’s mental health resources? It does not. Although there is some overlap between those responsible for homicides and psychological ailments, the Association of American Medical Colleges reports that even if serious mental illnesses suddenly disappeared, violence would decrease by only about 4%. More than 90% of violent incidents, including homicides, would still occur.
The crisis of tightened gun control and expanded mental resources must be treated separately from one another.
But this is not the only topic that is responsible for diverting our attention away from the situation at hand. Another bleak distraction that political elites are seeming to place at the forefront of the gun advocacy movement - as opposed to the policy change we all demand - is their vilification of the marginalized community members involved in such impassioned protests. More specifically, following the six deaths that burdened the state of Tennessee, three Democratic legislators stood at the forefront of the gun reform movement in advocacy and solidarity for the families affected. As a result of their activism, Rep. Justin Jones and Rep. Justin Pearson were expelled from the Tennessee House. Both Jones and Pearson are Black. Rep. Gloria Johnson, white and involved in identical efforts, received no punishment or expulsion for her behavior.
The House leadership has exploited the Black legislators’ frustrations in an attempt to diminish their political credibility, as well as censor the marginalized communities they represent in their districts and state. These expulsions have actually resulted in the opposite, with Rep. Jones emerging as the figurehead for a larger democratic movement. The nation is angry and rightfully focused on seeking justice for the criminalization of activist efforts that were targeted toward systematically disadvantaged community members. However, in doing so, their intended cause of discussing stricter gun laws in the legislature has been placed on the agenda of less priority. It is currently up for debate on whether or not either representative will be reinstated in the Tennessee House. Even so, the political efforts used thereof will be taking away from the firearm reforms we so adamantly demand.
Us
How do we cope with such tragedies where our voices have been continuously rendered powerless? As just discussed, even when we do place ourselves within a movement, oppressive structures retain the ability to discredit our activism and dilute our purpose. But we know that inaction is not an option. Waiting, hoping, we can not depend on democracy to wake up and realize the destruction the second amendment has stipulated for this nation. Let us at least try.
Everytown is an organization dedicated to the unification of teachers, students, mayors, and cities all across the country in favor of stricter gun legislation. Their website offers resources for statistics, recent events, House updates, protests near you, and contact information for your own legislator. Education is a powerful stepping stone to rectifying inequities. This is something we can do.
As soon as you access their website, they present options for you to take advantage of from anywhere.
They have the latest updates for every shooting, case of inaction, and congress misstep.
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