› Gun bills in General Assembly placed on hold following shooting,

The group Moms Demand Action protests Tuesday outside the Cordell Hull building in Nashville after lawmakers announced they would not be hearing gun bills this week after Monday’s deadly shooting at The Covenant School.

NASHVILLE — Tennessee’s Republican-controlled legislature pressed a pause button on all gun bills this week in response to Monday’s mass shooting at a Nashville school that left three 9-year-old students and three staffers dead, in addition to the shooter.

“All bills related to anything to do with guns or that type of situation is rolled until next week,” Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Todd Gardenhire, R-Chattanooga, told committee attendees Tuesday. “Yesterday was a tragic event in the country and in the state and in Nashville. And we need to be respectful of those victims and the families of the victims.”

GOP lawmakers have pressed any number of gun bills, some of which have resulted in fights with the business community and others. One bill sought to override gun restriction policies at private businesses as well as state and local government’s ability to ban firearms on their property. A provision in another bill sought to allow gun permit holders to carry semi-automatic rifles.

Tuesday, 250-300 people associated with Moms Demand Action, a group that pushes public safety measures advocates say help protect people from gun violence, showed up at the Cordell Hull

state office building to object to several firearms-related measures.

They soon learned action on all gun bills was on pause. Later, they massed outside Cordell Hull, saying they would be back next week when the measures return.

“What scares me the most, if I was in childbearing years, I don’t know if I would want to have kids right now,” said Lisa Coffman of Nashville, one of several speakers. “And I love my kids, 19 and 22, more than anything on this planet. And if I had to send them to school right now, I wouldn’t do it. I mean it’s so horrifying that we have to live in a world where we are afraid for our children to get educated. It’s just horrifying. And for everyone here who has little ones, just hug them hard. I mean hug all your people hard, because we never know when a gun will take someone down.

“And it’s horrifying and I’m sorry that we have to be here, but we have to keep showing up. They canceled us today. Come back with 10 more people by your side next week,” Coffman continued. “Just keep coming back. This has got to stop.”

Metro Nashville Police have identified the shooter as Audrey Hale, 28, who as a child had attended Covenant School. Hale used he/him pronouns, Chief John Drake said during a news conference Tuesday.

Drake said Hale had left behind “a manifesto,” which included a map of the school and details about how he would enter and carry out an attack.

Republican Gov. Bill Lee put out a video Tuesday calling the shooting a tragedy “beyond comprehension.”

“All of Tennessee was hurt yesterday, but some parents woke up without children. And children woke up without parents, without teachers. Spouses woke up without their loved ones,” Lee said in the statement shared on social media.

The governor said one of the teachers killed was a close friend of his wife, Maria Lee, and they had made plans for dinner Monday evening. Another victim, Head of School Katherine Koonce, was also a friend. Lee said they had been friends for decades.

“I understand there is pain,” Lee said. “I understand the desperation to have answers, to place blame, to argue about a solution that could prevent this horrible tragedy. There will come a time to ask how a person could do this. There will come a time to discuss, debate policy. But this is not a time for hate or rage. That will not resolve or heal.

“We will act to prevent this from happening again,” Lee said.

On Twitter, a video of the governor’s comments drew hundreds of responses, many of them critical. Among those commenting was Rodney Strong of Chattanooga, a former Hamilton County Democratic Party chairman who is a former county prosecutor.

“Unless you are willing to get serious about reasonable and sane efforts at gun control and dealing with gun violence as a public health issue, your words are empty and meaningless,” Strong wrote. “To show your sincerity, cut your ties to @NRA and work for the children!!!”

Chattanooga has had its own share of mass shootings. On June 5, 2022, three people were killed and 14 people wounded or injured in a shooting incident on McCallie Avenue.