Gun control protesters rally in Tennessee Capitol building
'Outnumbered' panelists discuss protesters' demands for a ban on assault weapons after six people were killed in the Nashville school shooting.
Dozens of protesters swarmed into the Tennessee State Capitol on Thursday, demanding that lawmakers take action on gun violence as they appeared to mourn the loss of the transgender former student who shot and killed six people at a private Christian school in Nashville, Tennessee, earlier this week.
While several people held up six fingers, video from the demonstration showed multiple protesters holding up seven fingers at one point in an apparent display of how many lives were lost in the shooting that took place Monday.
"Every death is a tragedy, y'all. Seven lives," one protester could be heard saying in the clip.
Breitbart News reporter Spencer Lindquist captured the footage of the protesters and shared it to social media on Thursday, just days after three children and three employees were shot and killed by Audrey Hale, a 28-year-old transgender former student, on Monday at The Covenant School in Nashville.
THREE DEMOCRAT STATE LAWMAKERS JOIN PROTESTERS INVADING TENNESSEE STATE CAPITOL
Protesters gather inside the Tennessee State Capitol to call for an end to gun violence and support stronger gun laws on March 30, 2023, in Nashville, Tennessee. (Seth Herald/Getty Images)
Other videos from the protest showed demonstrators tussling and yelling at law enforcement officials at the Volunteer State Capitol as they called for legislative action to prevent additional school shootings.
Head of School Katherine Koonce, 60; substitute teacher Cynthia Peak, 61; and custodian Mike Hill, also 61, were killed in the gunfire on Monday. Three 9-year-old students were also killed: Hallie Scruggs, Evelyn Dieckhaus and William Kinney.
Hale shot through a locked glass door and entered the school armed with two rifles and a handgun around 10:13 a.m. on Monday.
'TRANS DAY OF VENGEANCE' RALLY IN DC CANCELED IN WAKE OF NASHVILLE SCHOOL SHOOTING
Officer Rex Engelbert, 27, arrived soon after the shooting began and immediately starting clearing classrooms with other officers in search of the shooter. When Hale started firing at other responding officers from the second floor, Engelbert ran upstairs with Officer Michael Collazo, 31, and confronted Hale, who was shot and killed.
Three Democratic lawmakers in the Tennessee state House joined pro-gun control protesters at the Thursday evening demonstration in Nashville, including Democrat state Reps. Justin Jones, Justin Pearson, and Gloria Johnson.
"Power to the people," Jones yelled through a megaphone on the chamber floor.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Protesters at the Tennessee Capitol called for an assault weapon ban in the wake of the mass shooting, and federal lawmakers representing Tennessee are taking action.
U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn and Bill Haggerty, both Republicans from Tennessee, announced on Thursday they will be introducing the Securing Aid for Every (SAFE) School Act following the mass shooting.
The bill would create a $900 million grant program for both public and private schools to train and hire former law enforcement officers and veterans to increase security for students.
Fox News' Houston Keene and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
More from Politics
