In the weeks before six people, including three nine-year-old children, were fatally shot inside a Nashville school, Tennessee lawmakers considered several pieces of legislation to loosen restrictions on firearms.
The proposals were introduced two years after Republican Governor Bill Lee signed a bill into law that makes it easier for people to openly carry handguns in the state without a permit. Tennessee is one of 25 states with a permitless concealed carry law, a measure that has been rapidly adopted by lawmakers across the US as part of what right-wing activists have called a “constitutional carry” movement in recognition of the Second Amendment.
