Tennessee’s Republican lawmakers ended the legislative session early on Friday without taking action on gun control, less than a month after a mass shooter at a Nashville school killed three adults and three 9-year-olds.
The state allows 90 days for legislative sessions over a two-year period, but lawmakers adjourned this year after just 27 days, even as thousands of students, parents, teachers, and others have decried the role that lax gun laws played in the shooting and called for reforms. An hour or two after lawmakers headed home, Tennessee’s Republican Gov. Bill Lee, whose wife’s friend died in the shooting, announced he would send them back for a special session to keep debating a response.
“There is broad agreement that dangerous, unstable individuals who intend to harm themselves or others should not have access to weapons,” Lee said in a statement.
Audrey Hale, the 28-year-old gunman who opened fire on Covenant School, a private Christian school, had legally purchased seven firearms and used three of them in the shooting, including an assault-style rifle. He was a former student and was reportedly under care for an emotional disorder.
