NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Nashville-based artists Sheryl Crow and Amy Grant led a delegation Tuesday, lobbying Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and state lawmakers to enact serious reforms following the deadly Covenant School shooting.
Crow and Grant are part of a newly formed coalition, Voices for a Safer Tennessee, that is calling for an extreme risk protection law to take firearms out of the hands of mentally unstable individuals. They are also pushing for laws requiring the safe storage of firearms.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates caught up with the artists after they left the governor's office.
"We're Nashvillians. We're also moms," Crow said, turning to Grant, "and in your case..."
"Grandmother," Grant added.
Crow continued, "And I think what happened at Covenant has touched everyone, including Gov. Lee on a very deep and personal level."
She added, "We just want to see something that we can all agree on."
It was a sentiment echoed by Grant.
"We see the power of finding common-ground conversation," she said.
"Everyone is fatigued from the trauma, and I think that creates a table to which everyone is willing to come forward and sit around and say this is complicated.
"Everybody wants change."
House Democratic Caucus Chair John Ray Clemmons, D-Nashville, said that, at one point, both sides were having productive conversations about possible legislation.
But then, he said, Republicans decided to chart their own path.
Republican Caucus Chair Jeremy Faison, R-Cosby, said he is working on a plan that his caucus can embrace.
"We can walk away this year when we close down this session, saying that we've done something good for the people of Tennessee," Faison told NewsChannel 5 Investigates.
It is not expected to include an extreme risk protection order —or red flag — law, nor is it likely to include any law establishing penalties for gun owners who leave weapons unsecured in their vehicles.
"We're in a tough place in Tennessee," Faison added.
"We get as many emails asking us not to do red flag laws, not to take away our AR-15s, not to do anything, as we get emails asking us to do something."
Clemmons said that he would prefer a bill that requires Republican and Democratic votes to pass.
"I want something that strong," he said. "I don't want something that the entire Republican caucus can vote for because that means it's going to be very watered down."
As for the entertainers, Amy Grant said they are "optimistic regardless of what happens."
"Yes, we want session to not close until there is some decision, some vote on anything we can say is moving the ball forward," she added.
Getting there, Grant observed, "requires everybody working together. It requires everyone saying I'll give a little bit, you give a little bit."
Crow agreed.
"We know there is common ground there and it's not easy, but now is the time."
SPECIAL SECTION: Revealed
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