Thousands of people rallied outside Tennessee’s capitol building on Monday demanding stronger gun laws, while inside Republican leaders largely avoided talk of new restrictions on firearms.

Many of the protesters outside were local students who staged a walkout at 10:13 this morning — one week to the minute that police began receiving calls reporting the shooting at the Covenant School.

Alexis Marshall WPLN News

Hundreds of students and other protesters pour onto the steps of the state capitol.

Students came holding signs and dressed in red, with targets on their shirts. Hundreds flooded onto the steps of the capitol building, chanting: “What do we want? Gun control. When do we want it? Now.”

Several Democratic state lawmakers, Nashville mayoral candidates and community organizers also appeared at the rally.  

Lennon Freitas, a sophomore at Hillwood High School, was among the students at War Memorial Plaza. His mother pulled him out of school in the wake of the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting when he was just 6 years old, and says he’s been attending protests since then.

“I’ve been going to these things for so long, and I remember being home schooled most of my life because of my mom’s fear,” he said.

Upon returning to public school, Freitas distinctly remembers a teacher describing how he’d throw himself in front of the class if an active shooter showed up.

“And ever since that, I’ve been a real advocator for gun control and trying to save as many kids’ lives as possible.”

Several speakers highlighted that firearm-related injuries are now the leading cause of death for children in the United States. They called for bans on assault weapons, universal background checks, red flag laws, safe gun storage laws and accountability for the gun industry.

Alexis Marshall WPLN News

Hume-Fogg Students organizers lead a group from the school to Tennessee’s capitol building.

Some students who rallied at the capitol did not leave school directly after warnings from school administrators.

In an email, Hume-Fogg High school’s administration warned that students who left class without following protocol could be suspended from school. Instead, they encouraged students to attend an in-school assembly honoring the victims of the Covenant shooting. 

But Hume-Fogg senior Wyatt Basso said that limited the audience of their message to people who they already interact with every day. He and his classmates organized a gun reform demonstration outside their school before joining other students at the capitol.  

“Being out here, instead of being inside, we’re kind of forcing other people to hear us.” he said. “Forcing people like in the hotels to look down on us and understand like, we’re here to continue fighting together no matter what.”

Caitlyn Ragan, a junior at Hume-Fogg, said she’d been studying activists in the Nashville Student Movement who staged lunch counter sit-ins to desegregate during the Civil Rights Movement. 

“So I feel like it’s part of the legacy of students to get out there, use their voices,” Ragan said.

Republican leaders won’t commit to any new gun laws

Inside the capitol, Gov. Bill Lee held a press conference focused on policies that strengthen school security, largely through the addition of armed guards.

Among Lee’s proposals, some of which were announced after the elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, are ensuring doors remain locked, placing armed security guards at more schools and providing additional mental health resources.

When asked whether he would also support a red flag law, allowing courts to confiscate weapons from people who pose a public threat, Gov. Lee was noncommittal.

“I’m asking the General Assembly to bring forth a number of proposals, to look at any proposal on the table that will accomplish what I think is most important — keeping those that are a danger away from weapons and protecting Constitutional rights,” said Lee.

House Speaker Cameron Sexton, appearing alongside the governor, was more skeptical.

“All it is is a way to take away guns,” said Sexton. “No aspect of any red flag law that I’ve seen yet, if you can find one please share it with me, that has them to go for treatment for their mental health.”

Tennessee is one of 31 states without a red flag law. Republican-controlled Florida, however, does have one. The Florida legislature implemented the law after the 2018 Parkland school shooting that left 17 dead.