Covenant parent asks for reform, unity at Franklin Gun Violence Awareness rally

Sarah Neumann will not forget.

Neumann, whose 5-year-old son attends Covenant School — the site in late March of a mass shooting that killed six people, told a group last week on the Franklin Public Square that political differences should be set aside to reduce gun violence. 

“This is an issue for all of us with our kids,” Neumann said Friday. “We all want the same thing. I just aske that we please bring some unity into this. Just pray for those things.

"Pray how they come together and just look at each other as neighbors. It's the Nashville way.”

Neumann was a speaker at the Southern Christian Coalition’s gun reform event on Gun Violence Awareness Day. Other speakers included a survivor of the 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas and the pastor of a Nolensville church. 

The speakers talked to a group of orange-clad supporters, wearing the Gun Violence Awareness Day color. Below are some of their comments.

Las Vegas shooting survivor

Kari Kuefler was in Las Vegas about five years ago working for the company that produced the Route 91 music festival where 60 people were killed when Stephen Paddock fired into a crowd of about 25,000 people. 

“Nothing has changed,” Kuefler said. 

She asked the crowd to “continue to ask our leaders to listen and to think of common sense gun laws to protect our communities.” 

She said it’s changed the way she views daily life. She’s more cautious, more aware. 

“We don't think of a man hundreds of yards away, bunked up on the 32nd floor breaking out a window that we thought were unbreakable, with 20-plus semi automatic rifles shooting at a festival,” Kuefler said. 

'Wonderful conversations with Republican legislators'

Neumann said Covenant parents have had "wonderful conversations with Republican legislators who are willing and open to sit at the table and talk.” 

She didn’t know if the lawmakers always agreed. Neumann admitted she wasn’t entirely sure if her desires were the best answers. But she believes many things can be done to make Tennessee a safer state. 

“We can close background checking holes, we can do ERPO's that still allow the process and don't violate people's rights to have a gun. It's about keeping the hand guns out of the hands of the wrong people," Neumann said.

ERPOs, which stands for Extreme Risk Protection Orders, allow law enforcement to petition a court to temporarily remove guns from individuals at an elevated risk of endangering themselves or others. Gov. Bill Lee proposed a version of this in recent months and has called an Aug. 21 special session. 

“As a responsible gun owner, we're not targeting you. We don't want to target a Republican that loves to hunt that loves to do that. That's not the point here,” Neumann said. 

Rev. Jason Mikel, the pastor of Jenkins Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Nolensville, spoke about the anxiety at his church since the Covenant shooting. 

“There have been no bad days in our church. Until the day when we heard that covenant school was under attack,” Mikel said. “That day I witnessed the faces of parents picking up their precious babies and the angst in their faces was more than I could bear to see.” 

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