This week, a school shooting at Covenant School in Nashville comes as state lawmakers prepare to debate new gun legislation.
Republicans want looser restrictions on gun ownership, possibly extending those rights to 18-year-olds and arming schoolteachers.
Democrats largely from urban areas believe that more restrictions are necessary as cities have faced record levels of violence and an epidemic of children both being murdered by weapons and carrying weapons to commit crimes.
This most recent mass shooting comes as Republicans have framed a number of controversial new laws as essential to protecting Tennessee's children from harm. Those dangers include exposure to drag queens and books.
But guns are currently the leading cause of death for children.
Political analyst Otis Sanford says that even with major protests in Nashville following this tragedy, he expect lawmakers will do nothing to reduce the murder of children in the state.
