On March 27, 2023, evil struck Nashville as it has struck other cities across the nation. A shooter entered a school she once attended and carried out a brutal attack against innocent people. Lives were stolen. Families were shattered. A community was permanently scarred. And, soon, rights were to be under assault.
Nearly three years later, questions about motive remain unresolved. But one thing is clear: the tragedy did not end that day. Among other continuing impacts, the tragedy was also was immediately seized upon as a political opportunity by gun control activists. The deaths became a tool.
A Crisis Exploited
In the immediate aftermath, Bill Lee called for sweeping policy changes event though he is an administrator and not elected as a policy maker. Among other policy changes, Lee called for “red flag” laws and other firearm restrictions. He went so far as to demand a special legislative session to advance those proposals.
That special session exposed a fundamental divide: whether Tennessee would honor the limits imposed by the Tennessee Constitution and the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution—or abandon them in the face of political pressure and unrestrained emotion.
Some legislators stood firm. Many did not. The positions that they took exposed, once again, the principles, if any, that they embraced.
At the same time, new and rebranded gun-control advocacy efforts quickly emerged, demanding “reasonable” gun control. Whether those proposals were consistent with constitutional protections was often treated as secondary – if it was considered at all.
Constitutional Rights Are Not Optional
Against this wave of opportunism, some Tennesseans stepped forward.
Organizations such as Gun Owners of America and the Tennessee Firearms Association refused to yield. They did not accept the premise that tragedy justifies the erosion of fundamental rights. Indeed, the United States Supreme Court had made it clear that even claims of “public safety” standing alone was constitutionally irrelevant to justify the infringement of rights under the Second Amendment.
Instead, they and others took action.
One of the most important battlegrounds became transparency. Working alongside Judicial Watch, TFA and others pursued public records requests seeking the release of the shooter’s writings and related materials. While it was expected that Metro Government would seek to block access to the records, soon others with motives apparently broader than Metro’s intervened. Covenant Church, Covenant School, Covenant Parents, and several other private schools in Nashville asked the court to forever block access to the records that might shed light on why the tragedy occurred at a school that the murderer had herself attended as a child.
Why were the records important? Because truth matters. Motive matters. And public policy built on speculation, fear, or selective narratives is dangerous.
Although the trial court’s ruling would have blocked public access to the records for eternity, the battle did not end there. Petitioners appealed from the trial court’s judgement. The Tennessee Court of Appeals reversed the trial court ruling that had blocked access to those records. Yet even now, years later, Metro Government has not released the requested materials. The delay continues, and the public is still being denied full transparency.
Taking the Fight to the Courts
The defense of constitutional rights did not stop with seeking access to public records.
When state Republican leadership continued to push for new restrictions – while continuing to leave existing gun control laws in place – citizens turned to the courts.
In Hughes et al. v. Lee et al., a three-judge panel ruled in August 2025 that key Tennessee gun control statutes were unconstitutional under both the Tennessee Constitution and the Second Amendment. The judges did what the Governor and the Republican controlled Legislature did not do – they clearly held that Tennessee’s “intent to go armed” and its “parks” statutes violated the constitutions.
That ruling was unanimous.
Rather than accept the decision and correct the law, state officials – including Governor Lee and Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti – have appealed. As a result, statutes found unconstitutional by a court remain entangled in ongoing litigation.
A Pattern of Inaction
For years – well before the Covenant tragedy – citizens have called on the individuals elected to the Tennessee Legislature to repeal these and other unconstitutional firearm laws. For years, those calls were ignored and they continue to be ignored, if not opposed, to this day. Governor Lee, Attorney General Skrmetti and many Republican Legislators continue their efforts to impose unconstitutional laws on Tennesseans.
Sadly, even after extended periods of single-party control, many of these laws remain on the books. Some legislators have pushed for reform. Leadership has repeatedly failed to deliver it. The Republican caucus, being solely in control of the Legislature, has not only failed Tennesseans they have intentionally and knowingly made choices in clear violation of the constitutions.
The result is a system where courts must be asked – again and again – to do what the Republicans who constitute the super majority in the Legislature refuse to do: enforce and abide by constitutional limits.
The Real Choice
The Covenant School attack was a tragedy. But what followed revealed something deeper: how quickly some will use crisis to expand government power – regardless of constitutional boundaries. It has also shown how those in control of government will make limitless use of taxpayer funds to do damage to the constitutionally protected rights of the citizens.
At the same time, it revealed something else and heartwarming: that citizens are still willing to stand, to fight against those who control their own governments, and to defend the rights that define a free society.
This is not just about one event. It is not just about one law. It is about whether constitutional rights are treated as binding limits – or political obstacles.
So the question remains:
Who do you stand with? Deep State Republicans who have been blocking your constitutional rights during a time when they had complete and absolute control or with true conservatives who put a priority on constitutional stewardship?
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