NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – Conversations about gun violence continue following several mass shootings in recent weeks.
The President has proposed some options and both the House and the Senate are debating on how to respond to these shootings.
“We’re talking about somebody making a conscious decision to commit evil on innocent people, and that, in itself, is irrelevant in how that person commits evil,” Jason Edgely said.
Edgely is the general manager at the Nashville Armory. He hates to see the horrible acts of gun violence we’ve witnessed in the U.S. over the past few weeks.
He said the issues lies with the people committing the crimes, not the guns itself.
“I think the root cause has a seed set in mental health,” Edgely said. “I think there’s a mental instability problem in this country. I believe that with everything that I am and restricting my ability again to protect my family is not addressing.”
President Biden addressed the nation, pushing for stricter gun laws in wake of recent mass shootings in Tulsa, Okla., Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, N.Y.
Biden’s proposal includes a ban on assault weapons, tougher background check and raising the minimum age to purchase to 21 years old.
“This is not about taking away anyone’s guns. It’s not about vilifying gun owners,” Biden said Thursday. “In fact, we believe we should be treating gun owners as an example of how every gun owner should behave.”
For Edgely, raising the age limit to purchase doesn’t make much sense because there’s a bigger issue.
“What is the legal age to vote? What is the legal age to join the military and go overseas and fight a war for your government and potentially die for them?” Edgely said.
Earlier this week a group of people rallied at the Tennessee State Capitol pushing for Gov. Bill Lee and legislators to take action against gun violence.
“I’ve seen first-hand how mullets tear holes through bodies,” Dr. Katrina Green, an ER physician, said earlier in the week. “I don’t want anymore thoughts and prayers without action.”
“No one wants to get rid of the Second Amendment completely,” Franklin Community Church Kevin Riggs said at the rally. “There are some common-sense gun laws that we can add.”
For gun store owners and managers like Edgely, he believes there needs to be a conversation on fixing the issue without infringing upon Second Amendment rights.
“We’re trying to put a Band-aid on something and we’re trying to assert a level of control over an overwhelming percentage of people, and again, that’s an infringement upon the rights of the United States’ citizens and we’re not looking at it the right way.”
House Democrats have proposed the Protecting Our Kids Act, which would raise the minimum age to buy a gun to 21 and making it a federal offense to have large capacity magazines. House Republicans are against that proposal and they will vote on it next week.
U.S. Senators are working on a more bipartisan bill.
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