Lawmakers must put our children first and pass new gun safety legislation
More than a decade ago, we met at a gathering led by Sen. Bill Frist focusing on global maternal and children’s health. As new mothers, we were grateful to be raising our toddlers in a safe, nurturing environment in Middle Tennessee. We shared concern for mothers and children in the most vulnerable places in the world unable to survive and thrive as ours could, due to preventable conditions like malnutrition, pneumonia and malaria. Our work together contributed to saving millions of lives.
Today, we share concern for a different preventable threat that hits much closer to home. Our babies are now teenagers facing an epidemic that is the No. 1 killer of children in this country: Firearms. On Aug. 21, lawmakers in the Tennessee General Assembly have an opportunity to counter the crisis with pragmatic, evidenced-based gun laws. We urge them to do so.
As gun-owning families ourselves, we believe the biggest risk to the Second Amendment is the danger that firearms pose to public health. We must put additional measures in place so the community can feel safe, not only at school and at home, but in churches, malls and any public gatherings. The Covenant School shooting sent seismic waves of shock and trauma through our community. The tragedy touched our families, our friends and our children.
In the upcoming special session, we align with Gov. Bill Lee, calling on our legislature to pass an extreme-risk protection order law that would keep guns out of the hands of those who would present a danger to themselves or others. We stand with the more than 90% of Americans, including gun owners and Republicans, who support universal background checks. We also agree with Dr. Bill Frist, the Rev. Clay Stauffer and Dr. Alex Jahangir and their call to responsibly address gun violence, including implementing child access prevention and safe storage laws, expanding background checks to all firearms purchases, and requiring firearms safety courses for ownership.
Together, we have uplifted children half a world away through educating the public and advocating for them to our elected leaders. We’ve seen how small changes can have big impacts. Our kids here at home need us now. Gun violence, like malnutrition or malaria, is a preventable health crisis. It isn’t practical or financially feasible to place properly trained armed guards in every public space. And for our kids, we need more than school resource officers as deterrents. We need responsible legislation.
Join us, along with other leaders and members of the faith community, by letting your state senator or representative know you care about this issue, too. We are looking to our elected leaders to deliver on what Tennesseans have made so abundantly clear they want.
Kimberly Williams-Paisley is an actor, author and co-founder of The Store, a free, referral-based grocery nonprofit in Nashville. On Instagram @kimberlywilliamspaisley
Dr. Jenny Eaton Dyer is the founder of The 2030 Collaborative. If you are a faith-based leader in Tennessee and would like to join this letter against gun violence, please email jenny@2030collaborative.com.