station from viewers like you.
Thank you.
Amna: Good evening and welcome.
Authorities are still searching
for a motive in the shooting at
a Christian elementary school in
Nashville, Tennessee, that left
six people dead.
Geoff: Law enforcement said
today the shooter bought seven
guns legally, three of which
were used in the murders.
And Nashville police released
new video of their response.
Stephanie sy has the latest.
And a warning, her report
includes video that some viewers
may find upsetting.
Stephanie: Newly released
surveillance video shows the
shooter driving up to the
covenant school, and gaining
entry into the building by
shooting through a side door. It
is 10:10 A.M.
The suspect walks through the
halls carrying two assault style
rifles and a handgun.
Police received reports of the
shooting three minutes after
entry, around 10:13.
As police officers arrive at the
scene, the assailant fires at
their vehicles.
>> I'm making entry on the front
side.
Stephanie: Body camera footage
shows officers following the
sound of gunshots to the second
floor, where they confront and
kill Audrey hale.
Hale was a former student at the
Christian school.
Police have obtained writings
and campus maps they say show
hale calculated the attack.
They also say hale had other
targets in mind.
Police have given unclear and
sometimes conflicting
information about hale's gender.
But they said today the guns
used by the shooter were legally
obtained.
Police chief John drake said
investigators are in contact
with hale's parents.
>> We know that they felt that
she had one weapon, and that she
sold it.
She was under care, doctors care
law enforcement knew nothing
-- she was under care, doctors
care for an emotional disorder.
Law enforcement knew nothing
about the treatment she was
receiving, but her parents felt
that she should not own weapons,
they were under the impression
that when she sold the one
weapon that she did not own
any more.
As it turned out, she had been
hiding several weapons within
the house.
Stephanie: In Nashville,
mourners continued to gather at
the elementary school today to
lay flowers and pay their
respects.
>> It sends a message that
things need to change and that
thoughts and prayers alone
aren't something that fixes or
can aid this situation.
Stephanie: The student victims
were Evelyn dieckhaus, Hallie
Scruggs, and William kinney-all
, all nine years old.
The three adults killed included
the headadf the school,
Katherine Koonce.
Cynthia peak was a substitute
teacher.
Mike hill, a custodian.
As voices rise for lawmakers in
Washington, D.C. To do something
about the epidemic of gun
violence, this morning the
senate chaplain's morning prayer
was a call for divine
intervention.
>> Lord, when babies die at a
church school, it is time for us
to move beyond thoughts and
prayers.
Remind our lawmakers of the
words of the British statesman
Edmund Burke, "All that is
necessary for evil to triumph is
for good people to do nothing."
Stephanie: A prayer as much as a
call for action in the growing
chorus of grief.
For the pbs newshour, I'm
Stephanie sy.
Geoff: Amid the shock of the
tragedy in Tennessee are renewed
calls for leaders and lawmakers
to do something.
Kris brown is president of
Brady, a gun-reform advocacy
group, and joins us for more on
what that something could be.
Thank you for being with us.
Kris: Thank you for having me.
Geoff: The assailant purchased
seven firearms, three of which
were used in the murders he and
as this person was being treated
for an emotional disorder.
This person's parents did not
know the guns were in the house.
How do we solve for that?
What piece of legislation, what
policy would have prevented this
from happening?
Kris: Extreme risk protection
laws in 19 states and the
district of Columbia have passed
last year.
President Biden signed a
bipartisan safer communities act
to give funding to states and to
cause other states to pass these
laws why is that relevant?
Because what that says is, as a
law, if you have someone in your
household who is at risk of
doing themselves harm or others,
you can seek a protective order
from the court to remove all
firearms.
In some states, that also means
that person is put into the
background checks system so we
need that kind of law.
Tennessee does not have that law
so when I hear what the parents
are saying, it breaks my heart.
I think they tried and did what
they could but Tennessee does
not offer them other solutions
that they should and they must
because this is far too frequent
in our life today and we need
all of the tools that we can
amass to stop gun violence.
Geoff: At the federal level, the
gun reform debate appears to be
frozen.
President Biden says congress
needs to act.
He says he has exhausted the
range of what he can do
unilaterally but there are a
couple of things I want to point
out that suggests congress will
not act on this anytime soon.
One is congressmen and the ogles
whose district includes that
Christian school.
He received widespread criticism
from gun-control advocates for a
Christmas photo that he posted
in 2021 of his family posing
with ar-style rifles.
Today, he said he has nothing to
apologize for and did not see
anything wrong with that.
Tim talked to reporters
yesterday and said there is no
way to fix gun violence.
Tim: I don't see any role that
we can do other than mess things
up honestly because the
situation, like I said, I don't
think a criminal will stop with
guns page you can print them out
on the computer now, 3D
printing.
I don't think you are going to
stop the gun violence.
You need to change people's
hearts.
Geoff: Is that what the public
sentiment is question marked --
sentiment is?
Kris: No, it's a failure of
democracy.
That is manifestly against what
every poll tells us the American
people want.
93% of Americans want expanded
background checks.
Why is that?
Because they know that
background checks save lives.
We have stopped more than 4
million through the Brady law, 4
million sales of guns to
prohibited purchasers but today,
one in five guns is sold with no
background check at all.
Why is that?
Over the internet and at gun
shows, these guns can be sold
with no background check by
private sellers because when
Jimmy and Sarah Brady passed the
law, there was no internet
nor no gun shows.
President Biden has talked about
some other things we can do.
For those who say we cannot do
anything, let's look at the kind
of things that they are actually
doing in congress and in state
legislatures to reverse, to back
roll the kinds of public safety
that are important to us.
Today, congress was supposed to
have a hearing in the house
about certain kinds of devices
that can be added to assault
style weapons, to make them more
deadly.
They canceled that hearing.
Why?
Because of this shooting,
because there are certain
reports that indicate that the
shooter used to those kinds of
devices, brace stabilizers is
what they are called.
Obviously, people like him who
talk about we cannot do
anything, they are the ones who
are trying to rollback
protections and I have to say,
the issue that we as Americans
should really internalize is do
we want a version of the second
amendment that is a death
sentence to our fellow
Americans?
Are we going to make this a key
political issue or won't we?
We have to hold people like that
lawmaker and others to account.
They have blood on their hands.
I cannot vote.
I wish I could.
I cannot vote in congress but I
can vote at the ballot box.
And every time I do, I make gun
violence prevention a priority
and that is what we must do if
we want to change the trajectory
of our country.
This is a national shame.
We cannot say we live in a
country, the land of the free,
the home of the brave, when our
kids are dying at school and
when gun violence is the number
one killer of our children,
surpassing automobile fatalities
.
We have to make a difference and
we can.
We can and we should.
We are Americans.
Geoff: Thank you for your
insights and thanks for being
with us.
Kris: Thank you.