Tennessee, United States.- Two weeks after one of his wife’s closest friends was killed in a school massacre in Nashville, Governor Bill Lee on Tuesday called on the Tennessee General Assembly to pass an initiative that would keep firearms away. from the hands of those who could hurt others or themselves.
Republican Lee is the latest high-level US official to suffer a personal loss in a shooting, and he is trying to carefully balance how to use his powers to help prevent future tragedies through politics.
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear confirmed that he, too, lost one of his best friends when a gunman killed five people and wounded eight others Monday at a downtown Louisville bank.
Lee told reporters Tuesday that he spoke with Beshear, a Democrat, after Monday’s shooting that killed Tommy Elliott, a longtime friend of Beshear’s. Four other people were also killed.
On March 27, Cynthia Peak, a 61-year-old substitute teacher and friend of Lee’s wife, Maria, was murdered along with two other adults and three children at a Nashville Christian elementary school.
Lee’s call for legislation preventing people who may pose a danger to themselves or others from acquiring firearms comes at a time when Republicans enjoy a supermajority in the Kentucky and Tennessee, where lawmakers from that party have long opposed limiting access to firearms.
Neither state has implemented such a law, known as “red flag” laws.
To date, 19 states have these types of laws, many of which enacted them after tragedies. Florida did so in 2018 after the massacre at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where 17 students were killed. Police officials had received several complaints about the threatening statements made by the perpetrator, a 19-year-old youth.
By allowing courts to issue what are known as extreme risk protection orders, the laws aim to temporarily remove firearms — typically for up to a year — from people who have shown signs of potentially violent behavior. . In many cases, family members or police authorities must request an order from the courts.
Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg is among those calling on lawmakers to act to regulate guns, warning that anyone can be a victim of gun violence.
“This is not about partisan politics. This is about life and death. This is about preventing tragedies. You may think this will never happen to you. It will never happen to any of your friends or loved ones. I I used to think that,” Greenberg said.
“The sad truth is now, no one in our city, no one in our state, no one in our country has that luxury anymore.”
