On Jan. 27, the cries of frustrated Tennesseeans echoed from the state’s capitol onto Lamar Alexander Way as students and parents assembled to plead lawmakers for gun control legislation. The gathering occurred five days after 16-year-old Josselin Corea Escalante was shot and killed by a classmate in yet another Nashville-area school shooting — this time, at Antioch High School.
Students from Antioch High School and Hume-Fogg High School chanted “not one more” as they streamed into the capitol’s east plaza, nearly drowning the bronze statue of President Andrew Jackson in posters.
The student-led protest included speeches from Tennessee Democratic lawmakers like Reps. Gloria Johnson, Jason Powell and Shaundelle Brooks. Local Smyrna politician Luis Mata and several students from Antioch High School spoke. Sarah Shoop Neumann, the mother of a Nashville Covenant School shooting survivor, joined them.
“I appreciate you being here,” Johnson said, her voice cracking between words. “But mostly, I am so sorry that we have to do this. We should not be here. You all should not sit in your classroom and worry about being shot down.”
Johnson then went on to call those in power “cowards” for prioritizing the firearm lobby above children’s safety.
Powell followed Johnson’s speech by saying that he sent a letter to Gov. Bill Lee asking him to change the subject of this week’s special session to “the issue that really matters, that is gun control and school safety.”
The special session began at 3 p.m., just hours after the protest kicked off, and the subject remained school vouchers. If Governor Lee wanted to change the subject of the special session, he’d have to call another special session in order to address gun violence.
Powell, who represents part of Antioch, began his speech by saying Antioch is a great place to live” and deploring “the hate that led to this.”
A young voice responded to Powell from the crowd:
“We want to come home at the end of the day.”
However, lawmakers inside the capitol were largely unaware of the protest outside.
“I don’t know if they are protesting about the vouchers or the guns,” Charlie Baum, who represents MTSU’s district in the state House, said.
“Everyone has a right to protest,” Secretary of State Tre Hargett said in response to the rally outside.
“The response that we’ve had from our state has been dismal,” MTSU senior and local political organizer Meredith Dunn said. “I mean, firearms remain the leading cause of death for children in our state, and what are we having a special session on… granting taxpayer-funded subsidies to 17,000 kids whose families can already afford to send them to private schools.”
Dunn said she would rather see investment in making schools safer.
However, Republicans within the General Assembly remain loyal to the Second Amendment.
The day before the deadly shooting, Republican Rep. Jay Reedy introduced a bill to take away the legislature’s power to “regulate the [b]earing of arms” by altering Tennessee’s constitution. This would essentially bar the state legislature from passing laws that regulate the sale, resale or transfer of firearms — a measure Reedy said is to prevent crime and ensure Tennesseeans’ right to bear arms.
On Jan. 22, after the shooting at Antioch had taken place, Democratic Representative Bo Mitchell filed a bill that would increase the punishment for “recklessly storing a firearm in a manner that a person knows or reasonably should know will allow a child younger than 18 years of age to access the firearm and the child brings the firearm to a school.”
The bill was officially introduced to the state Senate on Jan. 27.
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