Nashville Students Rally in Protest for Gun Reform

A group of students from Nashville-area schools have organized a walkout to demand gun reform in the United States following the shooting at a local private elementary school. The event, which is being led by the March For Our Lives organization (MFOL), was scheduled to take place on Monday at 10:13 a.m. The time is reflective of when the shooter entered the Christian elementary school and opened fire, killing three students and three adults.

According to ABC affiliate WKRN, the shooter, a 28-year-old biological woman, or trans-man, was shot by police on the scene within 14 minutes of the first 911 call. After the walkout, students, parents, and supporters gathered at the Tennessee Capitol to demand change from the state’s legislature on gun reform.

Brynn Jones and Ezri Tyler, two Vanderbilt University students who organized the event, spoke to WKRN about their work with MFOL, which includes interviewing people impacted by school shootings. Jones said that hearing about the shooting in Nashville “hit incredibly close to home and felt personal in a way that it usually doesn’t.” Tyler added that the purpose of Monday’s rally is to show that the community is tired and is demanding change from the state’s legislature on gun reform.

As one MFOL spokesperson estimates, 7,000 people walked to Tennessee’s capital in Nashville. The school shooting has moved Democrats to pass new federal gun legislation, despite Republicans largely resisting the effort.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., has pressured House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., to hold a vote on “common sense gun safety legislation.” In a letter to McCarthy, Jeffries wrote, “The American people, regardless of political affiliation, overwhelmingly support common sense gun safety measures. The House should do likewise.”