Written by: Vaishnavi Peyyety, Current Events Staff Writer
On Mar. 28, a mass shooting took place at Covenant School in Nashville, Tenn. Six people were killed: Evelyn Dieckhaus (9, Student), Mike Hill (61, Custodian), Katherine Koonce (60, Head of School), Cynthia Peak (61, Teacher), Hallie Scruggs (9, Student) and William Kinney (9, student). Three children and three adults lost their lives in a 14-minute shooting. After receiving a call about the active shooter, police arrived on the scene. Then, after a standoff between the gunman and police, the shooter was killed.
The shooter was later identified as Audrey Hale, a former student at the Covenant school. Hale was a 28-year-old who was being treated for an emotional disorder. Hale planned the attack With maps of the school. Hale legally purchased seven guns, something permitted by the current gun laws.
President Biden has exhausted all executive actions in gun reform, leaving the responsibility to Congress. Biden encourages Congress to ban assault weapons though, according to several administration officials, officials are not planning reform on gun safety reform, even in light of this event according to CNN.
"It's really on Congress at this point. The president has taken every executive action he can," said one senior administration official.
According to the Gun Violence Archive, this shooting is one of 130 mass shootings that have taken place in just this year. Mass shootings have taken place every year for the past 20 years, a startling statistic for a developed country like the United States. To mourn the lives lost, Nashville withholding a vigil on Wednesday, Mar. 29.
“All of Tennessee was hurt yesterday, but some parents woke up without children, children woke up without parents and without teachers, and spouses woke up without their loved ones,” said Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee.
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