Calls for Hate Crime Classification and Gun Law Reform in Response to Recent Shootings.
Republican representatives Andy Ogles and Lance Gooden have requested that the suspect in the Nashville school shooting be charged with hate crimes, believing that the shooter targeted the Covenant Christian School because it is a religious institution. Investigators are still unclear on the shooter’s motive, and police have no information to indicate that the shooter was targeting any one of the six individuals who were murdered. Sens. Josh Hawley and John Kennedy have also requested that the shooting be considered a hate crime. Nashville police and the FBI are analyzing a manifesto the shooter prepared.