Niecy Nash reacts to Nashville school shooting: ‘We’re losing our way’

By Marianne Garvey, CNN

Niecy Nash is speaking out on gun control after Monday’s school shooting in Nashville in which three children and three adults were killed.

Nash’s own brother, Michael Ensley, died at age 17 in a school shooting more than 30 years ago at Reseda High School in Reseda, Calif. Margaret Ensley, Nash’s mother, founded Mothers Against Violence in Schools (MAVIS) for which Nash is a spokesperson.

“In 1993, my only brother was killed on his high school campus because somebody brought a gun to school,” Nash said in an emotional TikTok video. “It’s 2023, and there are babies who will never make it home to see their parents.

She continued: “And those parents will forever be in a space where they’re like, ‘What was the last thing I said? What was the last lunch I made? What was their last thought or experience? Did they call out for me?'”

Nash said the safety of children should come before Tennessee’s recent legislation restricting drag shows and critical race theory.

“These are the wrong things. It’s the wrong thing, and it is indeed the wrong time. We are losing our way,” she said. “Some political groups are so focused on the wrong thing that our children are dying. And there ain’t no coming back from that… Not even a little bit.”

She concluded, “I am so sorry. And my prayers go out to those families, ’cause it’s a pain that I don’t wish on nobody. School is the one place where children should be safe. Now, they’ll be safe getting on an airplane. But school? That’s another thing. And it shouldn’t be.”

Monday’s shooting resulted in the deaths of students Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney, all 9, as well as staff Cynthia Peak, 61, Katherine Koonce, 60, and Mike Hill, 61.

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