Tennessee students continue protests at Capitol for gun control
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) — Students from around Tennessee marched to the state Capitol on Saturday, continuing the demand for tougher gun laws.
A group of Williamson County School students who helped put on Saturday's event said they’re scared to go to school, living in fear every day of the week.
I don't want to die in school. I don't want to be gunned down and I don't want that to be my ending,” Ruby Linsthroth, a Franklin High School student, said begging state leaders through tears to help stop attacks at schools.
The six innocent lives taken at The Covenant School are still gripping countless hearts and minds.
“Just every time there's a knock on an outside door, every time there's a passing period, I just feel a sense of dread. And even if it's a momentary, it just grips me and I just, I can't shake it,” Linsthroth said.
The terror of that day loomed large for the students that marched from Public Square Park to the Capitol, pushing for stricter gun laws.
WZTV asked those students what it would take for them to feel safe in school.
They said banning assault rifles, expanding background checks to private gun sales and keeping the carry permit age at 21, not 18.
But at the top of the list, they want to make sure weapons can be taken away, at least temporarily, from anyone deemed a threat.
Red flag laws, the implementation of red flag laws would be so monumental, and it would help me feel so much safer,” one student said.
The crowds also showed major support for the 'Tennessee three,' a group of three House Democratic lawmakers that attempted to aid similar protestors at the Capitol last week. The Republican majority accused them of breaking decorum and expelled two of the three – two Black men, the third, a white woman, kept her seat on vote – allegedly for this breach (which normally only calls for censure).
The students said they feel like their cries to state leaders are being ignored and hope that their message leaves an impact now.