Several supporters and several lawmakers exploded with applause and cheers on Wednesday as the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee advanced.
Brooks has named the billAkira’s Law“In honor of his son Akilah Dasilva, one of four people killed in a mass shooting at Waffle House in Nashville in 2018.
Brooks, a Democrat, has since lobbyed to make gun restrictions even more stringent. I won her seat After running at home in November Gun Safety Advocacy Platform. This is her first session as part of the Tennessee Legislature.
“Akira was born here in Nashville and his life was taken here in Nashville… My son Akira will be with us today if the parents of the assailants follow the instructions of the law enforcement, the justice system, the judicial system and the medical professionals who have determined that they are not worthy of owning a gun,” Brooks said Wednesday.
“Even though each of these regulatory bodies had instructed them to keep firearms safely and not return them to shooters, their parents intentionally and intentionally ignored those instructions, broke the law and then took accountability for living in another state,” she said.
The House Criminal Justice Subcommittee voted 6-2 to advance the bill to the full House Judiciary Committee. The bill still faces several hurdles before it becomes law.
Brooks said the bill “focuses on retaining people who support the law and hold those who break the law accountable.”
That was Travis’ rethinking of Morton, Illinois. He was sentenced to life in prison There was no chance of parole to kill four people in February 2022 and injure the other four at the restaurant with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle. Illinois State Police revoked the ID of Reinking’s firearm owner before the shooting and demanded that his father, Jeffrey, be relinquished the gun for reunion.
Jeffrey Link returned the gun to his son, including an assault rifle used in the shooting of Waffle House, an illegal act in Illinois. It was a rethink of the elders He was sentenced for 18 months In March 2023, he was in a prison in Illinois.
Prosecutor: There is no punishment for a shooter’s father under Tennessee law
Brooks’ son, Ardan Dasilva, was 12 years old when his brother Akira was killed. For years, his family had been seeking accountability in court.
“The law didn’t make us fail,” Dasilva said. “It held both parties responsible. The father of the person who took my brother out of me was accountable by an Illinois court using the same law (the bill presented here today) because he broke the law.”
Tennessee had no way to do such a request.
In Tennessee, giving firearms to a boy or drunk person is a misdemeanor. However, Tennessee currently has no law against giving firearms to anyone committed to mental health assessments.
Nashville district attorney Jan Norman was one of the prosecutors who indicted Travis’ reconsideration for the Waffle House murder. She testified Wednesday that she remembered talking to Brooks about Illinois law.
“We were talking about the law and what the punishment was, and I said these words to her.
(Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)
Brooks’ bill criminalizes the sale of firearms, offers to sell, and transfer of firearms to a person within the past five years, while knowing that the person was a patient of a mental health agency, voluntarily or unwillingly. It does not apply to people who are voluntarily recognized for treatment only for alcohol abuse disorders who do not have other secondary mental illnesses or substance abuse disorders.
Nashville area psychiatrist Eric Zabrisky also testified in support of the bill. He said the way firearms were used in 67% of the 1,245 deaths recorded in Tennessee in 2022 by suicides.
“If we don’t keep doing anything and we don’t take preventative public health measures like this bill, fewer (people) will return it to (mental health) treatment, more will go to the morgue and go to the ground instead,” Zabrisky said.
Bill moves forward just as Nashville remembers the shooting at school
Wednesday’s committee meeting fell during memory and mourning in Nashville.
Thursday marks the 2nd anniversary of A Photographed at Covenant School It killed nine-year-old students Harry Scruggs, Evelyn Dicous and William Kinney, school principals Katherine Coonse and Custodian Mike Hill, and teacher Cynthia Peak instead.
The 2023 special legislative meeting of the Tennessee Legislature, which was called by Gov. Bill Lee, was concluded amid the public’s protests over gun law reform. No passage of bills restricting access to guns.
Tuesday, Metronashville Public Schools Education Committee Staff at the prestigious Antioch High School For actions during a Photographed in January. Solomon Henderson, 17, fired in a school cafeteria, killing 16-year-old Dayana Escalante, and injured another student before taking his own life.
James Shaw Jr. testified Wednesday in support of Brooks’ bill, who reconsidered Travis and injured him in the Waffle House shooting.
Three children, three adults killed in a shooting at a Nashville private elementary school
“I just saw the outcome of (mass shootings), and I saw how it can break a family, I saw holes that can do that, and I could see how repairs don’t happen.
“I think this is a step in the right way for some of the other mothers here from here (the contract) and from the other shootings we’ve had here in Nashville recently,” he continued. “I’m very supportive of her bill because I think this is a step in the right way. I think it will help Nashville move forward and put in laws, good laws, good laws, good laws on gun safety and practice.”
Andrew Farmer (R-Sevierville), William Lamberth (R-Portland), Lowell Russell (R-Bonoai), Rick Scarbluff (R-Oak Ridge), Jason Powell (D-Nashville) and Gabby Salinas (D-Manfis) voted in favour of moving forward with the bill.
Fred Atchley (R-Sevierville) and Clay Doggett (R-Pulaski) voted against it.
Get the morning heading.
