In the aftermath of yet another school shooting — this time in Minnesota, where children were left bleeding in church pews — Tennessee faced a choice.

We could have used that moment to pause, reflect, and take meaningful steps to protect our communities and our children.

Instead, our state made a different decision: to allow firearms in playgrounds and public parks.

This decision came almost immediately after tragedy struck in Minneapolis. While families there were still reeling, while children lay in hospital beds, and while parents were left trying to explain gunshot wounds to their other children, a panel of Tennessee judges struck down the law that banned guns from recreational spaces — the very places designed for children to feel safe.

This ruling came the very next day.

If that sounds like a cruel coincidence, it only deepens when we remember our own tragedy here at home.

Just two years ago, Tennessee endured the Covenant School shooting, where three children and three staff members were murdered.

That should have been the moment that changed everything for us. That should have been when the safety of children took precedence over politics and posturing.

But it didn’t. Instead of honoring those lives with meaningful action, our state has continued to move backwards — dismantling protections, loosening restrictions, and signaling once again that the lives of murdered children do not carry enough weight to warrant change.

Let me be clear: this is not about freedom. This is about how many children’s deaths we are willing to tolerate while pretending it is.

I am done with performative grief. I am done pretending this is normal. And I am done accepting the idea that the slaughter of children is simply the “cost” of living in this country.

For 26 years, we have endured this cycle of violence, grief, and inaction. Enough. It is time to do something.