Nashville children scream at Republicans over gun control in viral photo

A photo showing Nashville students yelling at a Republican state lawmaker during a protest against gun violence has gone viral on social media.

More than 7,000 students left class and marched to the Tennessee Capitol on Monday, according to March For Our Lives, which organized the demonstration.

They demanded lawmakers pass gun safety legislation, a week after three children and three adults were killed in a shooting at The Covenant School, a small Christian elementary school in Nashville.

The Tennessean reported that hundreds—including parents with their young children—packed into the building ahead of floor sessions on Monday evening.

“What do we want? Gun control. When do we want it? Now!” they chanted, according to the newspaper.

One photo, captured for the newspaper by photographer Mark Zaleski, went viral after it was shared on Twitter by Politico columnist Jonathan Martin.

In the image, a group of children and parents are seen shouting at state Representative William Lamberth as he made his way into the House chamber. Some of the children can be seen holding signs, including ones saying “Gun control not thoughts + prayers” and “Protect our kids!”

Newsweek reached out to Lamberth and Zaleski via email for comment.

“Quite a pic from Nashville, via @Tennessean,” Martin wrote in a tweet that has been viewed more than 400,000 times and shared more than 1,500 times. “Republicans have lost the future,” progressive commentator Brian Tyler Cohen tweeted in response to the photo.

In a video shared on Twitter by news station Fox Nashville, Lamberth told students that banning a specific gun would “do almost nothing to improve y’all’s safety.”

“If there is a firearm out there that you’re comfortable being shot with, please show me which one it is,” he said.

He also suggested it would be impossible to stop every single gun from getting into “the hands of a crazy person, a deranged person, a convicted felon.”

“Students and neighbors in Nashville made clear their stance on Tennessee’s loose gun laws—enough is enough,” March For Our Lives said in a statement. “They walked out and marched to turn their grief into action, and will return again and again until the job is done. When lawmakers refuse to act, kids die looking down the barrel of a gun. Young people will fight until we win.”

March For Our Lives is a youth-led organization born in the wake of the 2018 shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 dead. The movement aims “to create safe and healthy communities and livelihoods where gun violence is obsolete,” according to its website.

Meanwhile, three Democratic lawmakers in the Tennessee House of Representatives are facing expulsion after leading a protest against gun violence on the House floor last week.

On Monday, Tennessee House Republicans voted to strip Representatives Justin Jones, Justin Pearson and Gloria Johnson of their committee seats. They also filed resolutions to expel the lawmakers for “disorderly behavior” on Monday, according to The Tennesseean.

“Just handed this on the House floor, but they still have to vote,” Jones tweeted alongside a photo of the House resolution. “We’ll not be intimidated. THE PEOPLE are demanding we act to stop kids from being murdered in school.”

Jones also tweeted a video of the chaos in the chamber as the Tennessee House Republicans pushed forward to schedule the vote on the expulsion.

“Tonight as Tennessee House Republicans push forward to schedule vote on our expulsion, Speaker [Cameron] Sexton orders the gallery cleared as crowd chants ‘fascists.’ Media forced out at as well,” he wrote. “Then, Rep. [Justin] Lafferty (R-Knox) pushes me and grabs my phone. This is a sad day for Tennessee.”

Sexton said last week that the protest was “at least equivalent” to the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

In a series of tweets on Monday, he said his criticism was “solely directed toward the actions of three Democrat lawmakers who rushed the well and those who led a protest on the House floor with a bullhorn.”

Newsweek reached out to Jones and Sexton via email for comment.