Strap in, folks, because this is a long one. As I’ve stated in a previous blog post, I hate confrontation. I tend to follow the philosophy of that beloved Peanuts cartoon character, Linus; “There are three things I’ve learned never to discuss with people: religion, politics, and The Great Pumpkin.” Most of my friends and family are Republicans; heck, so is my husband. In case you hadn’t noticed from reading some of my other blog posts, I am not a Republican. And if this book of mine ever leaves publishing purgatory, you’ll see that I didn’t take Linus’ advice. I voiced my opinions on both politics and religion. I didn’t have much to say about The Great Pumpkin, though. I’m bracing for discussions with friends and family with opposing viewpoints upon the book’s release. And I dread reading the Facebook comments on this blog post.

Exactly one week ago, three children and three adults were shot and killed at a private school here in Nashville. There were no other injuries because the assailant killed every person he targeted. No locks or metal detectors would’ve stopped him; most of us have seen the video of him shooting his way through the glass door. Children and staff locked themselves in closets and called 911; you can hear gunfire in the background of these calls. Some kids called their parents begging them to come and save them. Terrified parents waited in a nearby church for almost an hour to discover whether their children made it out of Covenant School alive. Three sets of parents felt their world implode when they learned their children would never be coming home. Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney were only nine years old. Three other families also received the news that their loved ones were violently ripped away from them. Katherine Koonce, 61, was the school’s director. Mike Hill, 61, was a custodian. Cynthia Peak, 61, was a substitute teacher.

The shooter was transgender and battling an as-yet unidentified mental illness. These are the factors a lot of people chose to emphasize. How much testosterone was in the shooter’s bloodstream? More than that of the cisgender heterosexual white males who usually commit these crimes? We don’t know the answer to this question yet. What kind of treatment was he receiving for his mental illness? We don’t know this yet, either. What we do know for certain was that he used an assault rifle, a weapon that’s sole purpose is to induce mass casualty and can be legally obtained in this country. But when many of us cried for stricter gun laws, we were told not to politicize this. As if the transgender and mental illness issues weren’t being politicized and targeted as the only factors we need to regulate. Because even though gun violence is the leading cause of death in children, guns aren’t the real threat here. At least not in Tennessee.

Last year, Tennessee was one of the first states to restrict classroom discussions about slavery, racism, and white privilege. Why? Governor Bill Lee wants to protect children from feelings of “discomfort, guilt, or anguish” because of their race or sex. History wasn’t white-washed enough already, and now we have to make it even more Disney-esque. Tennessee thinks black history is a threat to our children, and they are taking action. 

Tennessee is also censoring our school libraries. Rather than letting parents decide whether they want their children to read books labeled by some as inappropriate, the state is banning and removing books and punishing librarians for noncompliance. Tennessee thinks books are a threat to our children, and they are taking action. 

Before the shooting at Covenant School, our state was in the news for other reasons. Governor Bill Lee recently signed into law a bill that will restrict public drag shows. Apparently, drag shows contribute to the sexualization of our children. Never mind that children see more skin at the public pool or crowded beaches. To my knowledge, children aren’t banned from having dinner with the family at their local Hooters, Twin Peaks, or Tilted Kilt. Tennessee thinks drag queens are a threat to our children, and they are taking action. 

More and more states are passing legislation that discriminates against transgender people. Just days ago, Tennessee passed a bill that would prohibit anyone from changing their sex on government-issued identification from the sex they were assigned at birth. The state has also banned gender-affirming care for transgender youth. They’ve taken charge of treatment options that should be decided by patients, their parents, and their physicians and only these people. Tennessee believes transgender people are a threat to our children, and they are taking action. 

The very same day gun violence took the lives of six people, a federal judge gave his stamp of approval on a deal that would drop the minimum age for people in Tennessee to carry a gun without a permit from 21 to 18. The very same day. Any adult in Tennessee will be able to buy a gun without having been trained on how to use it and without a background check. And they can legally purchase a weapon that is designed to kill dozens of people in seconds. You can even legally purchase a gun at a yard sale (and I have seen this done, though not in TN). Six people were killed in a school shooting. But Tennessee does not think guns are a threat to our children, so they are not taking action.

We had a federal ban on assault rifles from 1994-2004. Mass shootings decreased during those 10 years. They increased drastically when we let that ban expire. There is actual proof that our country is safer without assault rifles. You can read about that here. This is a quote from The Oregonian: “Breaking the data into absolute numbers, from 2004 to 2017 – the last year of our analysis – the average number of yearly deaths attributed to mass shootings was 25, compared with 5.3 during the 10-year tenure of the ban and 7.2 in the years leading up to the prohibition on assault weapons.”

Tennessee does not believe that we have a gun problem; they believe instead that we have a mental health problem. I won’t deny that there is a mental health crisis in this country. But according to the Columbia Mass Murder Database, only 5% of mass shootings are related to severe mental illness. The vast majority of people diagnosed with a less severe mental illness such as depression do not commit violent crimes. Even if mental illness was the most important issue in mass shootings, what is our country doing about it? I am very fortunate to live in a two-income household, and I have excellent health insurance. Most of the cost of my three medications for depression is covered, and we can afford to pay the difference. An estimated 118,000 people in this state are in a coverage gap; they have jobs, but they don’t qualify for Medicaid and don’t earn enough to receive insurance through the Affordable Care Act. Many people in this state are unable to afford the necessary treatment for mental illness; assuming they can even afford the doctor’s appointment to get a diagnosis. Tennessee could improve this situation, but they refuse to expand Medicaid coverage.

Look, I am not proposing a ban on all guns. I am in favor of an assault rifle ban, red flag laws (to remove guns from violent people and deny them access to more weapons), mandatory firearm safety training for all gun owners, mandatory background checks, and limiting gun sales to only licensed dealers. Hunting was a way of life for centuries, and though we don’t depend on it as a food source today, it’s a sport/pastime/tradition that has been passed down through generations. Hunters and hunting rifles don’t scare me. If owning a handgun helps you sleep better at night, that’s fine. I do hope you’ve had some training to know how to use it when absolutely necessary and that you keep it somewhere that’s 100% childproof. I know lots of responsible gun owners. I don’t want to take your guns away.

But don’t you think it’s pretty defeatist to say, “It doesn’t matter if we make gun laws more strict and take away assault rifles because the bad guys will just find other ways to commit mass murder; or find guns on the black market?” Don’t we owe it to our children to try at the very least to make it harder for them to be killed? When cars were the leading cause of death in children, we fought to make them safer instead of settling for “The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away.” It’s awfully hard to buy a car without a valid driver’s license, and to get that license, one needs many hours of driving practice before taking a pass/fail test. I’ll say it louder for the people in the cheap seats: GUN VIOLENCE IS THE LEADING CAUSE OF DEATH IN CHILDREN. Not black history, not books, not transgender people, and certainly not drag queens. And yet, these are the things we choose to regulate. 

Republicans and Democrats constantly marvel at how the other side’s logic can be completely opposite their own. Tennessee has no qualms about regulating a woman’s body because they believe all embryos have a “right to life.” But after these babies are born, their right to life is secondary to the right to bear arms. The adults say, “Now that we’ve brought you into this world, you’re on your own, kid. Just pray that God will protect you from gun violence. We’d do our part to keep you safe, but our hands are tied by the constitution.” It doesn’t make sense! I don’t think I’ll ever understand why we fight harder for our guns than we do for the lives of our children. May God have mercy on us all.

Friends, though our opinions may differ, I do love you. To those of you that took the time to read this rambling commentary of mine, please be respectful in your comments. I think we can all agree that we love our children and want to make the world a safer place for them. Peace be with you during Holy Week.