WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 08: U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene (R-GA) (L) fist-bumps Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) (R) during a hearing before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee at Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill on February 8, 2023 in Washington, DC. The committee held a hearing on "Protecting Speech from Government Interference and Social Media Bias, Part 1: Twitter's Role in Suppressing the Biden Laptop Story." (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Tennessee Rep. Tim Burchett (R) told reporters that gun violence isn’t fixable, just hours after a mass shooting killed three school children and three adults in Nashville, Tennessee.
“It’s a horrible, horrible situation,” Burchett said on the steps of the Capitol. “And we’re not gonna fix it. Criminals are gonna be criminals.”
“My daddy fought in the Second World War, fought in the Pacific, fought the Japanese, and he told me … ‘Buddy, if somebody wants to take you out and doesn’t mind losing their life, there’s not a whole heck of a lot you can do about it.”
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“I don’t think you’re gonna stop the gun violence,” he said. “I think you gotta change people’s hearts.”
Burchett, a long defender of gun freedoms, has voted against national bipartisan gun reforms.
“I don’t see any real role that we could do other than mess things up, honestly, because of the situation,” Burchett said about possible national legislation. “Like I said, I don’t think a criminal’s gonna stop from guns. You know, you can print them out on the computer now, 3D printing.”
Tennessee’s state-wide lawmakers have become increasingly lax in gun restrictions. The state’s bill of rights specifies citizens “have a right to keep and to bear arms for their common defense; but the Legislature shall have power, by law, to regulate the wearing of arms with a view to prevent crime.”
The state passed a law in July 2021 allowing gun owners over 21 to carry weapons without a permit. The law also permits law enforcement and military members aged 18 to 20 to open carry.
Several law enforcement agencies throughout the state opposed the open carry bills.
The assailant in the Covenant School shooting is believed to have purchased three guns legally in the state.
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