On Monday, a 28-year-old shooter entered the Covenant School, a private Christian school in Nashville, armed with two assault rifles and a handgun. The shooter then killed six people, including three 9-year-olds, and three faculty members. The shooter legally purchased seven weapons from five different gun stores before the shooting at Covenant school. 

They were fatally shot by law enforcement who responded to the scene. This comes against a backdrop of Tennessee laws making access to guns far easier. 

We spoke with the Frederick B. Rentschler II Professor of Sociology and Psychiatry and the director of the Department of Medicine, Health, and Society at Vanderbilt University, Jonathan Metzl, about the shooting, Tennessee’s gun laws, and if there may be any movement for legislation preventing access to firearms.