#the covenant school shooting

[dontmean2bepoliticalbut]

[arwyd]

Sunday always comes. Resurrection is a promise, and it is a prophecy. It’s a prophecy that came out of the cotton fields. It’s a prophecy that came out of the lynching tree. It’s a prophecy that still lives in each and every one of us to make the state of Tennessee the place it ought to be. So I’ve still got hope, because I know we are still here and we will never quit.

-Representative Justin Pearson (D-Memphis) on the day of his expulsion (04/06/2023) from the Tennessee House of Representatives, for standing with his constituents as they protested gun violence following a school shooting that left 6 dead at The Covenant School in Nashville on March 27, 2023.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Coral Murphy Marcos at The Guardian:

Tennessee lawmakers passed a bill on Tuesday that would allow teachers to carry concealed handguns in schools despite protests at the state capitol.

House Republicans passed the bill, one of the biggest gun moves since a mass shooting in a Nashville Christian school left three children and three adults dead last year. The bill is headed to Bill Lee, Tennessee’s governor, who is expected to sign it. The law would allow teachers, principals and faculty or staff of a school to carry a concealed handgun on school grounds if they have a permit and complete an annual training. Tennessee teachers and parents heavily criticized the proposal, with dozens flooding the state capitol and chanting “Blood on your hands” on Tuesday. Cameron Sexton, Tennessee’s house speaker, ordered state troopers to remove the protesters. House Democrats were also vocal about their opposition to the bill. “When bullies and cowards have power, they abuse it,” said Justin J Pearson, a Memphis representative, in a tweet. “These are dangerous laws and scary times in TN.” The state proposal is in response to the massacre on 27 March 2023, when a former student killed six people with two “assault-style” weapons and a handgun after elaborately planning the shooting by drawing a detailed map and surveilling the building.

Just over a year after The Covenant School shooting in Nashville, Tennessee, the cowards in the Tennessee State House passed a bill (#SB1325) that would allow teachers to conceal and carry in schools. Gov. Bill Lee (R) is set to sign it. #TNLeg

[columprncess]

she’s me ,, i’m her

[seraphic-sapphic-safehaven]

I cannot believe that the same man I protested alongside for BLM during the summer of 2020 got elected to be a state representative.... just for other lawmakers to put in a formal request for him and 2 others to be removed this year. Why do they want him removed, you ask? BECAUSE HE PROTESTED WITH 10,000+ STUDENTS YESTERDAY FOR BETTER GUN LEGISLATION, THEIR RIGHT TO FEEL SAFE IN SCHOOL, AND MORE!!

Representative Justin Jones, also known as Brother Jones to many of us here in TN, does not deserve this. He's a fantastic organizer and now state legislator who has repeatedly put his body, mental health, and life on the line for countless people. And the other two Reps., Gloria Johnson and Justin Pearson, don't deserve it either. Especially not for joining people they're meant to represent in a fight for their safety and rights.

If you wanna help them, please call Speaker Cameron Sexton's office at +1-615-741-2343 and leave a voicemail demanding they not unlawfully remove Reps. Jones, Johnson, and Pearson from their rightfully-elected positions. You can leave a name, real or not, and number if you want, but you don't have to. You can also email Speaker Sexton at speaker.cameron.sexton@capitol.tn.gov.

PLEASE REBLOG THIS IF YOU SEE IT, AND PLEASE HELP IF YOU'RE WILLING AND ABLE TO!

[sixty-silver-wishes]

Really scared and angry right now about the Nashville shooting and its potential aftermath. First and foremost, my condolences go to the victims’ families, as well as the students and staff of the school, but I’m also really nervous about what this could mean for the trans community, given the perpetrator was trans. The actions of one individual do not define a population, but with the rise of anti-trans legislature and rhetoric in America, especially in conservative-majority states, I’m worried that this tragedy could be used to further persecute trans people and detract from the central issue of gun violence. I want to offer my support both to the people who are grieving and to the trans community, and am beyond angry at the politicians and public figures who are exploiting the shooting to further harm both trans people and victims of gun violence.

[hematite2]

Love how this latest shooting means that half the people are going to focus on 'the evil of trans people' and the other half will focus on 'the evil of guns', and absolutely nothing will be done to help people, but someone will end up violating your rights :)

[dailyunsolvedmysteries]

2023 Covenant School Shooting

Audrey Hale drove a Honda Fit to The Covenant School, a private Presbyterian Church in America parochial school in the Green Hills neighborhood of Nashville, Tennessee, arriving at 9:54 a.m. CDT and parking it in the lot. At 9:57 Hale sent a message to an old friend, saying an earlier message was "basically a suicide note" and that she planned to die today. The friend called a crisis hotline and then contacted the Davidson County Sheriff's Office at 10:13.

At 10:11, Hale shot through a side door to enter the building. She was armed with two rifles and a handgun. At 10:13, police received a call about an active shooter.  Hale walked across the second floor of the school before opening fire. Officers first arrived at the school at 10:24. A teacher told one of the officers that the students were in lockdown and two were missing. 

Officers entered the building at 10:25, began evacuating the first floor, and searched each room for Hale. They heard gunshots coming from the second floor. Five Metro Nashville police officers proceeded upstairs and saw him in a lobby area, firing through a window at arriving police vehicles. Two of the officers fired eight rounds, killing her at 10:27, 14 minutes after the initial 911 call. 

Six people—three children and three staff members—were killed. Five were pronounced dead at a hospital and one at the scene. They were students Evelyn Dieckhaus, William Kinney, and Hallie Scruggs, all aged 9; substitute teacher Cynthia Peak, 61; custodian Mike Hill, 61; and head of school Katherine Koonce, 60. In addition, a police officer cut his hand on shattered glass.

[dontmean2bepoliticalbut]

[tomorrowusa]

As ABC News reports, Tennessee Republicans are in full blown thoughts and prayers mode. It doesn’t get more stereotypically Republican than this.

Nashville school shooting updates: Governor says now's not time to talk legislation

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has called for prayers in the wake of Monday's deadly mass shooting at a Nashville elementary school, while noting that "there will be a time to talk about the legislation."

"I am calling on the people of Tennessee to pray. For the families of victims, for the Covenant family, for those courageous officers, for the family of the shooter, for those who are hurting and angry and confused," Lee, a Republican, said in a video address on Tuesday evening. "Prayer is the first thing we should do, but it's not the only thing."

GOP Gov. Lee says that prayer is “not the only thing”. The other thing of course is quietly reminding the NRA that Tennessee Republicans are sticking up for AR-15s at the expense of Tennessee schoolchildren.

NPR describes how Tennessee GOP gun culture helped the Covenant School shooter obtain a small arsenal.

How the Nashville shooter was able to legally buy 7 guns  

In the case of the Nashville shooting, police say the perpetrator was being treated for a mental health disorder, yet bought seven guns, including assault-style rifles, legally. Police say the shooter's parents thought their child should not have access, but Tennessee does not have a law to request guns are removed temporarily, commonly known as a red flag law. Democratic lawmakers have introduced that in the past, but Republicans didn't pass it.

The gerrymandered heavily GOP Tennessee legislature is where gun safety legislation goes to die – figuratively shot full of holes with assault rifles.

Republicans around the US in recent years have blamed mass shootings on mental illness. But when they had a chance to do something about guns and mental illness in Tennessee, they consciously chose to do nothing. 

For the GOP, action is never an option. Instead of making schools safer, they will fixate on far right culture war issues to juice up their gradually declining base.

[sailorsleepyhead]

Idk if I’ve seen any post ab this today

but it’s been a year since the covenant school shooting and it breaks my heart that this is still an ongoing problem that people my age have to worry with, it’s utterly sad and depressing that we have to worry about going to school without being killed. Please rest in peace

Evelyn Dieckhaus

Hallie Scruggs

William Kinney

Cynthia Peak

Katherine Koonce

Mike Hill

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Alex Bollinger at LGBTQ Nation:

The manifesto of The Covenant School mass shooter has been leaked to the public. It shows that the killer used anti-gay slurs and that the attack was not – as many conservatives claimed for months – a violently pro-trans rights attack on conservative Christians. The shooter, identified as Aiden Hale, 28 shortly after the horrific shooting, killed six people, including three children, at The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee on March 27. He was shot and killed by police that day. Several people who knew him said that he was a trans man even though he wasn’t out to everyone in his life, which led to right-wing media claiming that Hale – who attended The Covenant School, which is Presbyterian – was attacking Christians in order to punish them for opposing trans equality (Hale used he/him pronouns in online communications prior to the shooting and signed his name Aiden sometimes online).

[...] Now, rightwing podcaster Steve Crowder has released pictures of the manifesto on social media, where Hale does not say that he targeted Christians or was motivated by his trans identity. In fact, Hale refers to the students at the school as “fa****ts” several times and decries their “white privilege,” calling them “crackers.” “Kill those kids!!!” Hale wrote. “Those crackers going to private fancy schools with those fancy khakis + sports backpacks w/ thier [sic] daddies mustangs + convertables. F**k you little s**ts. I wish to shoot you weak**s d**ks w/ your mop yellow hair. Wanna kill all you little crackers!!! Bunch of little fa***ts w/ your white privlages. f**k you fa***ts.” Two other pages Crowder shared online show Hale’s schedule for the day leading up to the shooting and a page where he called March 27 “Death Day” and said that he was “a little nervous, but excited too” to kill people. For months conservatives have demanded the release of the manifesto. Hale’s parents transferred ownership of the manifesto to the families of the victims, who did not want it to be released to the public.

The Covenant School shooter's manifesto that was leaked by right-wing pundit Steven Crowder revealed that the shooter disparagingly called White people "crackers" and used anti-LGBTQ+ slurs.

Prior to the leaked manifesto, right-wing commentators demanded its release in order to show proof of their narrative that trans people are "violent" and "dangerous."

The families of the victims of The Covenant School shooting did NOT want the manifesto released.

[columprncess]

do y’all fw meowing at random times in the day?

[thatonebasicfan]

Blaming Christians for the Covenant School Shooting for affirming basic human biology is like blaming a female rape victim for not wearing more modest clothing.

[entropieogchaos]

Murder Mayhem Suicide

We're not talking enough about the ONE thing all these mass murderers seem to have in common. No matter their background, ethnicity, gender, etc... they are ALL suicidal.

Maybe what we need to start talking about is why so many people in our society have become violently suicidal.

[lady-perpetua]

When you go about saying that there’s a massacre of trans people in the streets and the only way to stop it is violence against people you assume are at fault, you get demonic people like this who go to a CHRISTIAN SCHOOL to shoot up kids and staff people. 

Before any of you people try to defend this shooter, do you really want to associate them with your identity or group? That if one of you could go shoot up a Church or a Christian school then ALL OF YOU could? Is that the message you really want to send to people? That if Christians who don’t believe that you can change your sex or gender identity because God made us male and female then you need to respond with violence and death? That’s not an argument that’s a threat. By killing people you hate, you’re openly inviting not only the wrath of God but you’re inviting people who aren’t Christian but who’re definitely angry at entitled people who demand people change their way of speaking and seeing for the sake of feelings. 

God loves you. 

God loves every one of us. Jesus came to the world to die for our sins so we may join him in Heaven. When we accept him as our lord and savior we’re free from going to Hell. When we accept him as our lord and savior we’re free from paying the price of our sin because every one of us deserves Hell from the fact we’re all sinners. God doesn’t send anyone to hell, people choose to go to Hell when they reject Jesus. They choose to go to a place of eternal suffering and torment because they don’t want to accept Jesus’ love.