Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Marjorie Taylor Greene calls for more ‘good guys with guns’ after Nashville shooting

Georgia lawmaker makes no distinction between trained law enforcement and armed civilians in tweet

John Bowden
Washington DC
Tuesday 28 March 2023 02:12 BST
Comments
Nashville police confirm seven dead including shooter after Christian school shooting

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene called for “more good guys with guns” in a tweet posted just minutes after news broke of a horrific school shooting in Nashville, Tennessee on Monday.

Her lengthy statement on the shooting was posted to her personal Twitter account moments after Nashville law enforcment revealed that three adults and three children had been murdered in the attack, with the suspect thought to be a now-deceased 28-year-old from the city.

It was remarkable not only for the congresswoman’s refusal to distinguish between the response of trained law enforcement — who are thought to have taken down the Nashville attacker — to the response of armed civilians who in many cases have nothing more than amateur training, but also for the speed at which her statement was released. Conservatives, including many of Ms Greene’s allies in Congress, have often attacked Democrats for issuing politically-charged statements in the immediate aftermath of such attacks.

“Thank God for good guys with guns and thank God a good guy with a gun killed the evil mentally deranged shooter today,” said Ms Greene.

She further claimed: “School shootings should NEVER happen and will end immediately when our nations children are defended the same way Joe Biden is by good guys with guns!!!”

Her statement is provably false: there are numerous recent examples of instances where violent attacks occurred in schools where armed school resource officers were present at the time of the shootings.

Still, Republicans have pushed for more armed cops in schools as well as for the arming of teachers and staff as school shootings continue and the left continues to insist that reducing the comparatively high number and availability of firearms in American society is the only way to truly reduce the number of school shootings that occur.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in