On Thursday morning, lawmakers in the capitol building in Nashville, Tennessee, were met with a sea of angry, heartbroken, and determinedly vocal young people.
"The energy is palpable — high school students, college students, and middle schoolers across the state are taking the lead in this space because they are tired of being ignored," March For Our Lives student activist Ezri Tyler, 19, told Mashable.
In addition to continuing shouts for gun reform and school safety that resounded throughout the week — organized in the wake of the March 27 Nashville school shooting that left three 9-year-olds and three adults dead — the student activists and their allies were decrying the actions of Tennessee lawmakers against Reps. Gloria Johnson, Justin Jones, and Justin Pearson.
The three legislators were stripped of their committee assignments and faced a vote from the Republican majority, led by Speaker Cameron Sexton, that would potentially expel each from office for violating House conduct rules. The lawmakers (dubbed the "Tennessee Three" online) had brought "No action, no peace!" chants to the House floor, using a bullhorn to amplify the demonstrators' calls for action.
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National student-led advocacy group March For Our Lives, one of several organizing groups already taking over the city's legislative center, immediately cried foul. "We do not live in a democracy if mics are being cut when we try to make a stand. This is an abuse of power. This is an attack on our democracy," the organization tweeted.
So, they expanded their gun control protest into what they dubbed an anti-fascism rally. "Monday we walked out and marched; Today, we’re rallying for democracy."
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As Johnson, Jones, and Pearson waited out the vote with activists, cries rang through the building:
"Free, free, free. Free the Tennessee Three!" "Hey, reps, listen: Schools are not a prison!" "You ban books. You ban drag. Kids are still in body bags!"
"We have had hundreds of folks and dozens of students leading chants for almost four hours straight now in the rotunda, and it is disrupting the chamber," Tyler described. "We have now had Justin Jones, Justin Pearson, and Gloria come out, and each time they join us in song — same with when they speak in session, the gallery breaks out in song and they can hear us and have made it clear they are with us."
Brynn Jones, 21, another March For Our Lives activist on the ground in Nashville, explained that the group isn't letting lawmakers distract the public from the issue at hand. "I definitely think that this expulsion is political theater, with the majority moving bills on 'school safety' to today to try to demonstrate that it’s not about gun violence. But that is exactly what this is about. The House is desperate to silence their opposition and protesters, and the students that have stayed here for almost four hours prove that they are not going to be successful."
National walkouts continue a larger movement
The week of action began with a 7,000-student walkout from nearby Nashville schools to the capitol — met by allies, educators, supportive lawmakers, and even other issue protesters in an intersectional display of youth activism — and led into nationwide protests from student activists on April 5.
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Students Demand Action, the student advocacy arm of Everytown for Gun Safety, organized the walkouts en masse to show lawmakers everywhere that Nashville is one of many instances of a nationwide problem — a cry they've been shouting for years.
Zack Maaieh, a 20-year-old Students Demand Activist and leader of Nashville's Vanderbilt University chapter, told Mashable that the feeling on the ground in Tennessee was one of anger and energy.
"I and a lot of people were heartbroken, as shooting after shooting kept happening, but I think the feeling of that heartbreak turned into anger. I got frustrated because we have all of this gun violence happening every day in this country, here in Tennessee, and yet our legislators are doing nothing to stop it. Instead of focusing on the issue at hand, which is people with negative intent getting access to firearms, they are putting more guns in people's hands," Maaieh said.
Students Demand Action activists, including Maaieh, also attended a Wednesday hearing over a bill that would allow teachers to carry concealed handguns on campuses, which many say is just adding more risk and distracting from effective legislative options.
"No one was there to support the bill. There was a room full of people frustrated, mad, and angry, and yet they ignored that. They ignored the pleas from students, from parents, and from teachers," Maaieh said. "It goes to show just how frustrating it is to have a legislature that isn't working with us, even though we are coming to the table and we are offering solutions."
Rather than actions that put more guns in public spaces, common sense gun reform advocates like those with Students Demand Action want to see actions that prioritize safety and controlled access. Extreme Risk or Red Flag Laws, for example, establish ways for concerned citizens and law enforcement to intervene when they believe a gun holder may be at risk of harming themselves or others.
Students Demand Action also advocates against laws like permitless carry, the manufacturing of high capacity assault weapons, and the marketing of weapons to young people.
"I want to emphasize that we want to work with everybody who wants to work with us," Maaieh said. "This is an issue we all agree on, we just need to sit down together."
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March For Our Lives imagines a policy agenda that rewrites the "glorification" of guns, political apathy, and corruption underlying gun violence, including the arming of state actors and the low standards for gun owners. Other organizations like Team Enough seek to reduce gun violence by acknowledging systemic factors like racism, poverty, and other environmental considerations, with specific focus on helping communities of color.
As these groups take to the streets and legislative buildings in Nashville and beyond, their proposed approaches of addressing the epidemic of gun violence haven't yet convinced enough representatives to step up and take meaningful action, activists emphasized.
"I hope nationwide there are condemnations of the actions of the Tennessee legislators, more conversations about common sense gun control, and an acknowledgment of the importance of this moment in Nashville," Jones said. "People have been coming out by the thousands to protest gun violence over the last 10 days, and the importance of these demonstrations cannot be overstated. Today is fundamentally about supporting the representatives who advocated for their constituents and protest against the backsliding of democratic norms that this action by Speaker Sexton and the House represents."
Maaieh echoed the thoughts of others on the ground regarding the actions of Tennessee lawmakers bogging down an already uphill climb to passing effective gun reform legislation. "This story isn't necessarily unique to Tennessee. There are other states with legislatures actively refusing to pass safety legislation. It just so happens that Tennessee is in the headlines."
Even though there appears to be growing, nonpartisan agreement on the need for action, national gun reform advocacy groups are still at odds with the actions of state representatives. Instead of productive conversations, activists like Maaieh say, lawmakers are still hemming and hawing across political (and moral) lines decades later.
"We've had so many thoughts and prayers, but our prayers are empty if we don't act on them," he said. "I think we have to act against gun violence precisely because God has given us the tools to do so. 'God won't help those who won't help themselves.' This is how God has answered those prayers."
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