Six innocent people were killed Monday in a mass shooting at The Covenant School, a private Christian school that taught preschool through 6th grade in Nashville, including three children, and three school employees.
Police initially described the “heavily armed shooter,” as 28-year-old Audrey Elizabeth Hale, who police killed at the scene. Hale was a graphic designer who used he/him pronouns. Police said Hale was transgender and they initially identified him by his birth name and gender. Hale was assigned female at birth but identified as a transgender man using the name Aiden.
Biden called on Congress to pass an assault weapons ban, saying we “need to do more to protect our schools.”
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, (D-Illinois) echoed Biden’s remarks, saying he strongly supports “bills to ban assault weapons from civilian use and to close gaps in our background check system.”
But Rep. Tim Burchett, (R-Tenn.), told reporters that no laws — existing or proposed — could have stopped the attack.
“It’s a horrible, horrible situation, and we’re not going to fix it,” Burchett said. “Criminals are going to be criminals. And my dad, who fought in the Second World War in the Pacific against the Japanese, said, ‘Buddy, if somebody wants to take you out and doesn’t mind losing their life, there’s not a whole heck of a lot you can do about it.’