Thousands link arms from Vanderbilt to Tennessee Capitol in gun reform demonstration

Thousands gathered and linked arms along a route from Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt to the Tennessee Capitol on Tuesday evening in a push for stronger gun laws.

The event was in response to the Covenant School shooting on March 27, when a shooter killed three 9-year-old children and three staff members. Voices for a Safer Tennessee, a nonpartisan group, organized the event as a show of solidarity to support measures like extreme risk laws, stricter gun storage laws and stronger background checks.

People gathered around 5 p.m. and began linking arms at 5:15 p.m. Some took breaks from joining arms to chant, hold signs and cheer. At least 1,500 were densely packed along 21st Avenue South by the hospital as dozens of passing cars honked in solidarity. The crowd grew more sparse as it stretched down West End Avenue and Broadway before winding its way to Legislative Plaza outside the Capitol.

Megan Shea stood with several coworkers from the Vanderbilt pediatric critical care unit just outside the hospital. Her 4-year-old daughter Audrey was busy blowing bubbles and drawing with sidewalk chalk with her friend Kalani, who's also 4. Shea said her kids facing the reality of school shootings again and again is intolerable and that change is needed.

The day of the shooting, she said, she was waiting to help in the pediatric ICU.

"The kids never made it to the ICU," she said as her voice broke with emotion while she held her 1-year-old son, Connor.

Outside the Capitol, Democratic state Reps. Justin Jones, Justin Pearson and Gloria Johnson — also known as the "Tennessee Three" — joined as people prayed and sang together. Maggie Rose, Brittney Spencer and Drew Holcomb provided music. As Rose sang "What Are We Fighting For," a child sat at the front of the crowd and drew a rainbow with sidewalk chalk.

Michelle Augusty, who helped found Voices for a Safer Tennessee, said she has friends with kids at Covenant and that it's been hard to watch them suffer. But she's also been encouraged by the groundswell of support and unity around gun safety.

"Tennessee voters are really coming together on an issue that shouldn't be partisan," Augusty said. "We're really showing ... how we can work together to find a middle ground that is in the best interest of our community."

Diana Leyva contributed to this story.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Thousands form human chain in Nashville to push for gun reform