After mass shootings, GOP expands access to guns In states around the country, Republican lawmakers are pushing laws to expand the ability to own

After mass shootings, GOP expands access to guns
In states around the country, Republican lawmakers are pushing laws to expand the ability to own and carry firearms.


'It's gotten progressively worse' »

After a mass shooting at an elementary school in Texas last year prompted calls for new gun restrictions, Republican-led states around the country moved in the other direction. One of them was Tennessee, where the governor insisted that tighter firearms laws would never deter wrongdoers.

“We can’t control what they do,” Gov. Bill Lee said.

Tennessee lawmakers have instead moved to make firearms even more accessible, proposing bills this year to arm more teachers and allow college students to carry weapons on campus, among other measures.

Then came the attack Monday at the Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, where a shooter carrying multiple weapons killed six people, including three children. The same day, a federal judge signed off on a state settlement allowing people as young as 18 to carry a handgun without a permit.

Amid the ghastly cadence of multiple mass shootings that have prompted calls for more comprehensive controls on guns, Republicans in statehouses have been steadily expanding access to guns.

In Kentucky, Ohio, Nebraska, Texas and Virginia, Republicans have pushed this year to limit gun-free zones, remove background checks and roll back red-flag laws that seek to remove firearms from those who are a danger to themselves or others.

“I think it’s gotten progressively worse over the years,” North Carolina’s Democratic governor, Roy Cooper, said in an interview. On Wednesday, the Republican-controlled legislature in his state overrode his veto and eliminated a century-old pistol permitting system.

In 25 states, no permits are required to carry a handgun — nine more than in 2020.

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