Whenever a mass shooting occurs in the United States, such as the one that killed six people at a Christian elementary school in Nashville, there is no shortage of public outrage. Grief and sympathy are widespread, but what the authorities do next will probably depend on the political party governing the state where the shooting occurred.
That means it will be almost impossible to expect new gun controls in Republican-led states like Tennessee or Texas, but when these tragedies occur in Democratic-led states, there are likely to be more limits on gun use, even if they already have restrictive laws.
Large-scale shootings generally do not seem to change the basic political makeup of a state.
“Democratic-led states tend to focus more on gun restrictions, while Republican-led states do not and often emphasize reducing existing gun regulations,” explains Jaclyn Schildkraut, executive director of the Regional Gun Violence Research Consortium at the Rockefeller Institute of Government.
The fact that the responses seem predicated by Republican and Democratic labels is perhaps an indication of America’s political polarization and differing views that attribute the problem primarily to violent people or their easy access to guns.
THE RESPONSE TO THE TENNESSEE SHOOTING
Following Monday’s shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville, tensions rose among state lawmakers gathered at the state Capitol. Democrats called for more action on gun control, while Republican leaders cut off their microphones for criticizing their GOP colleagues’ love of the Second Amendment to the Constitution, an amendment that guarantees Americans’ right to keep and bear arms, including firearms.
“Prayers are good, but faith without works is dead,” implored Democratic state Sen. Raumesh Akbari, employing a biblical reference. “Let’s not allow another preventable tragedy to unfold without this legislature taking real action,” he added.
However, any action by Republican lawmakers is more likely to move in another direction. Republicans introduced bills this year that would make it easier for teachers to access guns and allow college students to carry guns in schools.
On the same day as the Nashville shooting, a federal judge approved a legal settlement lowering the minimum age to carry guns without a permit in Tennessee from 21 to 18. That came just two years after a new law set the age at 21.
DEMOCRATIC STATES
Michigan’s new Democratic legislative majority took its first steps earlier this month to pass a broad gun control package.
The Senate voted along party lines in favor of a “red flag” law as the rules are known that allow a state court to temporarily strip a person with potentially violent behavior of his or her guns. It also passed initiatives requiring anyone purchasing a rifle or shotgun to undergo a background check, which is currently only required for firearms purchases, and to store the guns in a secure location where minors cannot have access to them.
Much of the package of regulations was drafted by Democrats nearly 15 months ago following a shooting at Oxford High School, but the bills saw little movement until Democrats won control of the Legislature from Republicans in last fall’s elections. They gained momentum after a gunman killed three people last month at Michigan State University, not far from the state Capitol.
In Colorado, the Democratic-led Legislature was seeking several new gun restrictions after five people were killed last November at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs. After another attacker wounded two Denver high school administrators last week, majority Democrats have been pushing for hours in the face of Republican obstructive maneuvers to send several gun control bills to Democratic Gov. Jared Polis.
The bills would expand who can request the temporary removal of a firearm from someone who poses a danger, raise the minimum age to purchase a firearm from 18 to 21 and institute a three-day waiting period when purchasing a gun. While Gov. Polis supports all three bills, he has shied away from questions surrounding a fourth bill that seeks to ban semi-automatic firearms. That bill faces a steeper battle to become law.
REPUBLICAN STATES
Republican-led Florida responded to a 2018 shooting that killed 14 students and three staffers at a Parkland school by passing laws that raised the minimum age to buy a gun to 21, imposed a three-day waiting period for all gun purchases and authorized “red flag” laws to temporarily take guns away from certain people. However, that marked an exception of sorts for Republican states.
In Texas, minority Democrats have introduced numerous gun control bills after a former student killed 19 minors and two teachers last May at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. Family members of some of the victims joined Democratic lawmakers in demonstrations in front of the Capitol, demanding action. Some proposals sought to raise the minimum age to own so-called assault weapons, limit the exchange of firearms between individuals and create requirements for safe storage of firearms.
However, Republican state leaders have made it clear from the outset that such bills do not have the votes necessary for passage.
Instead, Texas officials responded last summer with about $105 million for mental health and school safety initiatives. The Senate also passed a bill earlier this month that would require reporting court-ordered mental health hospitalizations to the FBI’s national system for instant criminal background checks for people at least 16 years old. That bill is pending in the state House of Representatives.
In Missouri, several students from the Visual and Performing Arts High School in St. Louis-where a gunman killed two people and wounded seven others last fall-traveled to the state Capitol to press lawmakers to pass more gun control initiatives. However, Democratic-sponsored bills to create a “red flag” law allowing for temporary gun removals have yet to receive a hearing in the Republican-led Legislature.
Instead, the Legislature approved $20 million in security grants for schools across the state in response to the shooting and is weighing allocating more funds for the program. A House committee also recently approved budget amendments that would provide several hundred thousand dollars for mental health care, art supplies and school musical instruments.
Lieb reported from Jefferson City, Missouri. Associated Press reporters Jesse Bedayn in Denver; Joey Cappelletti in Lansing, Michigan; Acacia Coronado in Austin, Texas; and Kimberlee Kruesi in Nashville contributed to this report.
Bedayn and Cappelletti are members of The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative team. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to cover little-known issues.