By: Dwayne Landers
Police continue to investigate a shooting at a private Christian elementary
school in Nashville, Tennessee, that killed three 9-year-old children and
three adults.
Police released body-camera footage Tuesday from two officers who
police say fatally shot the attacker. CNN is reviewing the footage and will
update with more information.
The shooter, a 28-year-old Nashville resident police say was once a
student at the school, was killed during gunfire with police, authorities
said.
Police said the attack was targeted and involved prior planning. The shooter had
drawn detailed maps of the school, police said, including the entry points to the
building. Police have also located writings from the shooter that they are
reviewing.
It is the deadliest school shooting since the attack in Uvalde, Texas, last May.
What lawmakers are saying about AR-15s and gun reform legislation after the
Nashville school shooting
From CNN’s Morgan Rimmer, Lauren Fox and Manu Raju
CNN spoke with Republican and Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill on
Tuesday, one day after a school shooting in Nashville left three children and three
adults dead.
Top House and Senate Republicans rejected calls for additional action on guns,
arguing that there’s no appetite for tougher restrictions.
House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, whose committee has jurisdiction over gun
policy, said he doesn’t think Congress should limit assault weapons.
“The Second Amendment is the Second Amendment,” he said. “I believe in the
Second Amendment and we shouldn’t penalize law-abiding American citizens.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee,
who has been involved in past negotiations on gun legislation, said, “I don’t know
if there’s much space to do more, but I’ll certainly look and see.”
Graham said he is opposed to a ban on AR-15s, noting that he owns one himself,
and he argued that it would “be hard to implement a national red flag law.”
After the shooting in his district yesterday, Republican Rep. Andy Ogles shut
down questions about banning AR-15 rifles.
Ogles, who represents Nashville, said, “Why not talk about the real issue facing
the country? And that’s mental health.”
Remember, Ogles posted a photo on Facebook in Christmas 2022 when he was
mayor of Maury County that showed him and his family standing in front of a
Christmas tree holding weapons, with the caption: “The very atmosphere of
firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference – they deserve a
place of honor with all that’s good.”
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin told reporters that he is “not very hopeful”
that the Senate can pass gun legislation this Congress, adding, “yet we have to
try.”
“This is uniquely American and the people of this country have to ask themselves
a basic question: Had enough? Had enough of sending your children and
grandchildren to school and wondering if they’re going to be victims of assault
rifles?” he said.
He also went after Republican arguments that semiautomatic weapons are
constitutionally protected.
“I mean, this is madness. To think that some people rationalize this as part of the
2nd Amendment is beyond me,” he said.
Despite Republican opposition, Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal insisted that
he is not giving up.
“We’ve heard before that gun violence prevention is impossible, and yet we’ve
made progress as we come together. I’m not taking no for an answer,” he said.
“I’m going to continue seeking to enlist my Republican colleagues because they
know the outrage, the grief.”
Republican Rep. Byron Donalds pushed back on calls for further gun legislation
and a ban on AR-15s.
“If you’re going to talk about the AR-15, we’re talking politics now,” he said. “Let’s
not get into politics. Let’s not get into emotion, because emotion feels good, but
emotion doesn’t solve problems.”
Indiana Republican Sen. Todd Young, when asked if he’d support a hearing
specifically on assault weapons, said he’d back a hearing to understand what
happened during the Nashville shooting.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise demurred when asked if the shooting would
move Congress to address any sort of reforms.
“The first thing in any kind of tragedy I do is I pray. I pray for the victims, pray to
their families. I really get angry when I see people try to politicize it for their own
personal agenda, especially when we don’t even know the facts or facts coming
out,” he said.
“Let’s get the facts. And let’s work to see if there’s something that we can do to
help secure schools,” he said. “We’ve talked about things that we can do and it
just seems like on the other side, all they want to do is take guns away from law-
abiding citizens.”
Separately, Senate chaplain Barry Black, whose role is traditionally nonpolitical,
called for lawmakers to take action on gun violence “beyond thoughts and
prayers” after the shooting.
“Lord, when babies die at a church school, it is time for us to move beyond
thoughts and prayers,” he said on the Senate floor Tuesday morning.
