Staff Editorial: The backstory behind the Mar. 28 Nashville school shooting
On Monday, Mar. 28, Nashville experienced the deadliest school shooting that the U.S. has seen since 21 people were killed in Uvalde, Texas last May. 28-year-old Audrey Hale fired 152 rounds in their alma mater, Covenant School, killing three children and three adult staff members. Hale was killed by police officers minutes after the first call of an active shooter.
The Lamron opposes any and all gun violence and believes that gun control legislation needs to be passed for the United States to heal and progress. That being said, we also believe it is important to investigate tragedies of this sort to understand the factors contributing to violence and harmful disruption in order to create meaningful change. This staff editorial will explore the context of this shooting, as well as the shooter’s background, though these efforts are not made to condone the shooter’s actions.
Law enforcement and faculty at the Covenant School have begun a more thorough investigation into Hale’s motivations, and already, there is much to evaluate. While the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) has yet to declare a finite motive for the shooter’s actions, they announced on Monday, Apr. 3, that Hale had been planning the shooting for months.
As a former student at a religious school, many preliminary connections might be insinuated about Hale’s motives. As reported by MNPD Chief John Drake in correspondence with NBC News, “There’s some belief that there was some resentment for having to go to that school.”
Former faculty, such as headmaster Bill Campbell, who served as headmaster when Hale attended the Covenant School, have attempted to speak further to Hale’s experiences and what role they might have played in their motivations; Campbell expressed to NPR that Hale “was loved and appreciated like all our other students.” In these explanations, however, figureheads like Campbell have revealed even more factors that may have brought Hale to commit such atrocities.
As reported by NPR and NBC News, Hale was transgender and used he/him pronouns (because many major news sources have not abided by this standard, we will continue to use gender-neutral pronouns for Hale in this article). In almost every quote from law enforcement, faculty, and community members alike, however, Hale has been publicly misgendered. This disregard of Hale’s identity after their passing is not retributive justice, but a symbol of disrespect towards LGBTQ+ individuals.
It can hardly be chalked up to coincidence that Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed a bill banning drag shows in public spaces, as well as a ban on gender-affirming healthcare for youth in Tennessee, mere weeks before the shooting occurred. Though federal judge Thomas Parker temporarily halted the drag ban on Friday, Mar. 31, the threat to LGBTQ+ expression and livelihood still permeates queer culture in Tennessee. The connections of the timing of the Nashville school shooting, Hale’s “resentment” about attending the Covenant School, the disregard of Hale’s pronouns and gender identity, and the legislative evidence of anti-trans attitudes in Tennessee are not simple happenstance—they are symptoms of transphobic attitudes in U.S. politics and culture.
The abominable actions committed by Audrey Hale on Mar. 28 are deplorable and deserve nothing but condemnation. At the same time, it is irresponsible and ignorant to simply dismiss the correlation between discriminatory legislation and violence committed not only by queer individuals, but against queer individuals. Because the U.S. has yet to take meaningful legislative action against gun violence, it is essential to evaluate the conditions surrounding the horrific tragedies that continue to occur due to a lack of regulations. In the case of Hale, it is clear that transphobia and lack of access to gender-affirming support, even after their death, played a role in their decision to take the lives of innocent civilians.
While the United States continues to refrain from making meaningful strides toward establishing safety for all its citizens in refusing to pass meaningful gun control legislation, it also endangers LGBTQ+ lives in ignoring discriminatory bans and legislation like those passed in Tennessee. Until legislative action is taken, we may only see a continuation of violent and incredibly misdirected cries for help like the Nashville shooting.