I was at work on March 27, 2023, when news of the tragic shooting at The Covenant School began to break. Questions tumbled with every update: A shooter. Where? At an elementary school. Is it my child’s school? Students were shot. Is my child safe?
It wasn’t the first time I had asked questions like these.
My husband, George, is a survivor of a firearm injury. At a party when he was attending college in Nashville, he was shot by someone who shouldn’t have been there or had a gun. Two men were later arrested, charged, and sentenced for the crime, but the memory of being woken up by a friend’s call telling me George had been shot still haunts me. The bullet remains in his arm because removing it was deemed too risky– a constant reminder of that night.
Nearly two decades later, my husband and I made the difficult decision to tell our then 7-year-old son what had happened at Covenant. It was quite possibly the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. I still remember the look on his face—it was like his innocence left his body.
At that very moment, I knew I had to act. I had to channel years of grief and numbness over firearm tragedies into trying to make meaningful change.
In the days following Covenant, I joined friends and fellow moms to found Voices for a Safer Tennessee. We are Tennesseans solving challenges specific to Tennessee by tackling firearm safety through education, advocacy, data tracking, and research.
Thanks to you, our generous coalition, we are making incremental, meaningful progress. Safer TN helped pass some of the first firearm safety policies in Tennessee in nearly a decade during the last legislative session.
And we are continuing to build momentum. This Giving Tuesday, Dec 3., if you’re moved to make a difference, please consider donating to our mission. Your donation will help our efforts to educate, collaborate, and advocate alongside thousands of Tennesseans regardless of background, political affiliation or any other difference between us.
If you want safer communities, and a safer future for our children, then we’re on the same side. Join us in creating a safer Tennessee.
With gratitude,
Nicole Floyd Smith
Board Vice Chair and Founding Member
Voices for a Safer Tennessee