NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A national advocacy movement gathered with the Nashville community on Tuesday after a total of seven people died after a shooting at a private Nashville school.
"What I am hoping, and what so many parents are hoping for — that's change. Just change," said Morgan Abtahi, a mother in the Green Hills area of Nashville. "I don't know how many it's going to take. Seems to be too many."
They took to the steps of the state House of Representatives and said change could only come from elected leaders. This legislative session, lawmakers introduced several bills that would loosen gun restrictions, including bills that lower the age to legally carry a handgun and another that protects the gun industry from lawsuits.
Some lawmakers called for prayer after the shooting. Governor Bill Lee also released a video where he commended law enforcement authorities' response to the shooting, and called for prayers from people across Tennessee.
"Prayer without action is, in fact, not true prayer," said one person at the rally.
Moms Demand Action helped organize the event. They are a national advocacy movement that advocates for more restrictions on gun access across the U.S. Several children joined the rally, and many said they were concerned that they could have been victims of a shooting.
House Speaker Cameron Sexton said that moving forward, lawmakers may work on bills focusing on mental health.
"I don't understand how someone could walk into a school and shoot kids. That's not something I can understand, but as a society, we need to have a better understanding of why someone thinks that's okay," he said.
According to the Gun Violence Archive, there were 82 mass shootings and eight mass murders in that state between 2014 and now. It said there were 132 mass shootings and five mass murders in Tennessee in that same timeframe.
Advocates from Moms Demand Action said that Tennessee's lack of restrictions such as a ban on assault weapons, extreme risk laws or concealed carry permit requirements lets guns fall into the wrong hands.
Sexton said he did not believe shootings like the one in Nashville would stop with new gun restrictions.
"You have states that have open/constitutional carry in the Midwest. Mississippi has it. You would be seeing this in those states as well if it was about not having restrictions on guns," he said. "I think sometimes people want to surround and focus just on the guns, but also you have to focus on the person and why would someone want to do that."
Many of the people who attended the rally also echoed a similar question among each other — "if you, your child, or a relative can be shot in a school, where are they safe?"