We’re still learning more about the tragedy that’s unfolded at The Covenant School in Nashville. But we know that, as of Monday afternoon, at least three children and three adults are dead. We know that the police have said the attacker was carrying “at least two assault-type rifles and a handgun.” And we know that in the state of Tennessee, lawmakers have been working to make it even easier to own guns.
Not that there’s much more room to lower that bar. The state already has few restrictions in place as it is: no waiting period between between purchasing and receiving a firearm; no license or permit required to own a gun; no need to register a gun with the state; no need for a permit to carry a handgun, open or concealed, if you’re over the age of 21.
There’s a wide and constantly growing disconnect between the high-minded rhetoric being thrown around and reality.
And yet Tennessee Republicans are still trying to remove the barriers that remain. As part of a settlement in a lawsuit from the Firearms Policy Coalition, Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti cut a deal in January that made it legal for 18-year-olds to openly carry firearms. Last week, the state Senate passed a bill to codify that agreement into law. State Rep. Chris Todd, who supports the Senate bill, has called it a “civil right,” ignoring arguments that expanding access to guns for teenagers could lead to more killings.
That matches with the rhetoric around “constitutional carry,” the gun lobby’s lofty way of saying that no permit should be needed to carry a concealed firearm. The doctrine is the basis of another bill that Todd is backing that would allow open-carry of any firearm, including high-powered rifles. Even testimony against the bill from the Tennessee Highway Patrol and the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security hasn’t dimmed support from Republicans.
But there’s a wide and constantly growing disconnect between the high-minded rhetoric being thrown around and reality. It’s easy to say, as the Supreme Court has, that gun laws that don’t match up with 19th-century understanding of firearms are a threat to freedom. It’s likewise easy to claim that any restrictions on gun ownership invite despotism. It’s not like there’s been much of a chance in the last 30 years for the U.S. to try out the sort of reforms that keep mass shootings from happening at the same rate in any other country and see just how much “tyranny” ensues.
What’s less palatable is how much of our gun policy is presaged on the idea that guns are cool. That they’re fun to own, fun to shoot and fun to pose with in the family Christmas card, like Rep. Andy Ogles did last year. Ogles’ district includes Nashville — but I doubt he’ll think twice about putting guns in the hands of his kids for next year’s card as well. They think that their toys, their totems of masculinity, their props for playing the hero, are more important than the lives lost. That was the unspoken understanding behind the rapid spread of the AR-15, as The Washington Post detailed in an all-too-timely package on Monday. When the federal ban on assault weapons expired in 2004, gun manufacturers “saw a chance to ride a post-9/11 surge in military glorification while also stoking a desire among new gun owners to personalize their weapons with tactical accessories.” As the founder of one of the first companies to market the AR-15 told The Post: “We made it look cool. The same reason you buy a Corvette.” In the face of yet another senseless round of murder, we know what comes next. President Joe Biden has already called on Congress to reinstate the assault weapons ban. There will be an outpouring of grief and a moment of digital silence from groups like the National Rifle Association, which last year celebrated the growing reach of “constitutional carry” laws. And there will be no commiserate pause from Republicans in their ongoing quest to demonize even the smallest reform as an affront to American values. It would be somehow more palatable if Republicans like Chris Todd and Andy Ogles would just really say the truth behind their mission. They think that their toys, their totems of masculinity, their props for playing the hero, are more important than the lives lost. That it’s more important to keep the love of voters who would rather look cool and imagine that they’ll be the “good guy with a gun” who saves lives in a fictional crisis than actually saving lives amid our ongoing national crisis.
Hayes Brown is a writer and editor for MS NOW. He focuses on politics and policymaking at the federal level, including Congress and the White House. 
