In Tennessee, the despair of gun control advocates

NASHVILLE: After a deadly school shooting in the southern US state of Tennessee last year, Democratic voters, lawmakers, and even some Republican mothers called for stricter gun control laws.

But the state assembly blocked any progress, dashing hopes for change in a state that deeply values firearm rights. “We´re single-issue voters, with guns being the number one issue,” said Melissa Alexander, a real estate agent, gun owner, and mother who takes pride in her son´s hunting skills. Despite grassroots advocacy by liberals, conservative resistance to gun control has deflated the issue to the point that it barely registers in the US presidential campaign.

Democrats have often championed gun reform -- but this time around even Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, has emphasised her gun ownership in a country seemingly numbed to mass shootings.

“I thought March 27th (2023) would be the tipping point for gun violence and safety,” said Justin Pearson, a local Democratic assemblyman. That day, a shooter killed three children and three adults at The Covenant School, a Nashville elementary school.

“But I also thought we would do something as a country after Sandy Hook,” Pearson added, referring to the massacre that claimed 26 lives, including 20 young children. The Tennessee shooting was at “a private Christian conservative school, so I did have a modicum of hope that this would be the threshold for them to really do something different -- and they failed,” he said.

Shortly after the tragedy, Pearson and another Black elected official were expelled from the local legislature for protesting inside the institution -- an extremely rare punishment. A third white Democrat, who also advocated for stricter gun laws, was spared.

Both expelled lawmakers were swiftly reelected, but the tragedy failed to produce any legislation restricting firearm access. Instead, a new law passed this year allowed teachers to carry weapons.

“We did everything possible to prevent it,” said Alexander, who, alongside Mary Joyce, leads the ´Covenant Moms,´ a group of school mothers who mobilized after the shooting. Their press conferences and meetings with elected officials, including the Tennessee governor, proved futile.

“We were warned they could make it worse,” Joyce said, referring to threats to make teacher carrying arms mandatory. She believes that her daughter, who lost part of her hearing during the attack, owes her survival to her teacher, who kept the children quiet in the classroom.

“Expecting teachers to confront a machine-gun-wielding assailant with a pistol is ridiculous, dangerous, and irresponsible,” she said. Their only consolation is that no school district has implemented the measure so far, said Alexander. Despite the stubbornness of their elected representatives, the two women -- who come from conservative families and had little prior political involvement -- are determined to continue campaigning for gun control laws compatible with the US constitution´s Second Amendment on the right to own a gun. Speaking publicly on this “polarizing subject” feels “scary”, Alexander admitted. Joyce was more direct: “I don´t want to get shot.”