Voices for a Safer Tennessee Highlights Gun Violence Solutions at Franklin Event

The non-partisan nonprofit founded in the wake of the Covenant School shooting, Voices for a Safer Tennessee, offered both gun violence solutions and hope to a crowd of about 100 people in Franklin this week.

That shooting had a direct impact on the Franklin community, which was home to one of the six victims, teacher Cindy Peak. Ever since, Voices for a Safer Tennessee has called for increased firearm safety initiatives and responsible gun ownership. 

The group held a panel discussion titled “Addressing a Public Health Crisis: The Impact of Firearms on Our Community” on Nov. 3 at Franklin First United Methodist Church.

The panel included former Senator and physician Bill Frist, pediatrician and firearm safety advocate Dr. Paige Smith and retired Brigadier General Eden Murrie, of Murrie Solutions, and the former CEO of veterans group Operation Stand Down. The discussion was moderated by Franklin Mayor and physician Dr. Ken Moore.

Frist, who served in the U.S. Senate from 1995-2007, including as Republican Senate Majority Leader from 2003-2007, called the reality of the gun deaths in state “inexcusable, embarrassing, but also reversible,” blaming the increase in deaths on “consistent loosening of gun laws in the state,” beginning with the 2013 guns-in-trunks bill. He also pointed to the impact of the 1996 Dickey Amendment, which restricted federal research into gun violence.

Tennessee is one of the top states for fatal gun violence in the U.S., with guns serving as the leading cause of death for Tennessee children, and gun theft from vehicles increasing.

Last month, state Democrats sounded the alarm over data that reveals a new record-high number of gun deaths, (eclipsing the previous record high in 2021.)

Frist said that while the data is grim, conversations like those with the panel, and recent state legislation, such as Jillian's Law and laws criminalizing threats of mass violence, show some progress regarding firearms and public safety efforts and awareness.

“I will have to say that it's not all negative, even though we are the worst in the country in terms of firearm deaths and suicides and injuries today, but if you look over the last three years, there's been improvement, a little bit of improvement, as we've begun to focus, and therefore the focus and the attention and the discussion in meetings like this,” Frist said. “This is where real change [happens]. It's a change in culture. It's not just regulation, but it's a change in culture, a change in attitude, a change in understanding.”

Smith spoke about her experience caring for two Covenant School third graders who were wounded in the shooting, and the post-shooting mental health impacts on the students, their families and the greater community.

Murrie addressed the increased risk of veteran suicides, and argued that veterans “can be a voice for accountable gun ownership.”

Smith insisted that Voices for a Safer Tennessee “is not a group that's trying to take guns away at all,” and suggested that the realities of suicide extend beyond access to guns in times of crisis.

“Suicide protection is addressing the stressors of homelessness, addressing food insecurity, addressing mental health in your workplaces, having great pastors and great churches like this to work with ... and so suicide protection is something all of us can do,” Smith said.

Frist voiced support for universal background checks, red flag laws and safe storage laws, while Murrie proposed required training and licensing prior to being able to legally own a gun.

While Voices for a Safer Tennessee is a non-partisan group, even distributing free cable gun locks provided by the state Department of Safety and Homeland Security, its push for “common sense” action is not in a vacuum.

But despite the partisan nature of the ongoing American gun debate, Monday’s event saw the attendance of both Williamson County Republican Party leadership and Democratic Party members.

Former Republican state Rep. Sam Whitson, who has supported the organization since its founding, called for a collective “change in behavior.”

“We need to cool the rhetoric, engage respectfully and look for common ground instead of conflict,” Whitson said.

“I think culturally we've evolved, and I would argue, unfortunately, to a point of division and lack of mutual respect,” Frist told the Williamson Scene, adding that he believes that the division can be healed.

“I fundamentally believe that the better angels in people's lives are that they come together, they respect each other, not necessarily even to agree, but to align themselves around some common principles of goodness. I think we can get to that point. I think it takes small groups of people coming together, like tonight, and listening. Listening to two sides of issues, trying to de-politicize, defuse and talk about the substance, and I would argue the facts around the issue itself.”

That hope was also present in closing remarks by the organization's policy advisor Erin Rogus, who also served as Frist’s senior policy advisor, who read a poem by Eleanor Dieckhaus, the older sister of Covenant School victim Evelyn, and daughter of Voices for a Safer Tennessee Community Engagement Coordinator Katy Dieckhaus.

That poem, entitled “Hope,” reads in part, “finding hope is one of the hardest things on that journey. Then you find it not only is hope a shining light for everyone, but also it shines brighter in the darkness.”