Tennessee Students Gather to Demand Special Session Address Gun Control

It’s another year and Tennessee is having another special session of the state legislature. This time, though, we haven’t been following it very much because it involves things like school vouchers and hurricane relief.

However, it seems that not everyone is happy with that.

See, the shooting at Antioch High School rattled people once again. As a result, a group of students decided to gather and demand the special session have gun control on the agenda.

After a shooting at Antioch High School, hundreds of students gathered outside the Tennessee State Capitol hours ahead of a special session inside the House and Senate chambers this week.

“Enough is enough,” they chanted.

A special session begins Monday at 4 p.m. and involves the issues of school vouchers, Hurricane Helene relief and immigration.

Rep. Jason Powell — a former teacher who turned legislator over the district Antioch High School sits — said he was angry and sad. He apologized that students had to live through the trauma of a shooting at their high school.

The Nashville Democrat asked Gov. Bill Lee to amend the special session call to include gun violence and school safety after the shooting left one 16-year-old girl dead. The shooter also took his own life.

“I am disappointed yet again we are talking about another school shooting in Nashville,” Powell said. “Antioch is a great place to live. We continue to take no action when it comes to school shootings and gun violence. For now, the hate that led to this … I am a Metro school parent. I have two children in the schools. Every day when I drop them off I am terrified they may lose their life to gun violence. No parent should fear that in our city or state. It is unacceptable. I want you to come home and feel safe.”

So just what laws would have prevented this from happening?

No, seriously, I’m asking.

This was a 17-year-old boy who used a handgun. That means an assault weapon ban or something like that won’t fly. He was too young to buy a firearm lawfully and he didn’t even look like he was old enough to buy one, either, so it’s unlikely someone sold him one in a face-to-face transfer believing him to be of lawful age.

The reports say he fired somewhere around 10 rounds, which means a magazine limit wouldn’t have done anything either.

Of course, this protest was big on demands but short on actionable ideas. They want gun control, but no one seems able to put forth any concrete ideas.

Further, it looks like Gov. Lee actually can’t amend the special session, so it was all for nothing.]

Or what this really about grandstanding, teachers building up the emotions of students then urging them to go out and protest, all without really understanding the issue at all, just so it’ll look bad for lawmakers they don’t like?

Honestly, student protests aren’t as moving to me as they might have been had so many teachers not taken very anti-gun positions so publicly. Now, I just have to wonder how much of this is real and how much of this was the result of teacher influence.