Audrey Hale's Mom Urged People to Petition for Gun Control Before Shooting

By Anna Skinner On 3/28/23 at 11:47 AM EDT

U.S. Guns Gun Control School shooting Nashville

On Monday, a shooter opened fire at Nashville's Covenant School, killing three adults and three children.
The shooter's mother, Norma Hale, had previously called for gun control.
Police have not released any information about a possible motive, but the attack is believed to have been targeted.

Years before a shooter entered a Nashville private school and killed six people, the shooter's mother petitioned for gun control.

On Monday, Audrey Hale opened fire at Nashville's Covenant School and killed three adults and three children. The children killed in the shooting were identified as Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney—all 9 years old. The adult victims were Cynthia Peak, Mike Hill, both 61, and Katherine Koonce, 60, listed as head of the school on the Covenant website.

Newsweek previously reported that as of Monday, the Covenant School shooting was the 129th mass shooting in the U.S. this year, with 37 having been committed this month, according to the Gun Violence Archive (GVA). While there is no agreed definition, the GVA says a mass shooting is four or more people shot or killed in an incident, excluding the shooter. Gun violence is the leading cause of death for U.S. children.

Two assault rifles and a handgun were found with the shooter. Police confirmed that officers shot the perpetrator dead at the scene.

The shooter's mother Norma Hale spoke publicly about the shooting after Audrey Hale was identified as the shooter. Shortly after, Norma Hale's former calls for gun control resurfaced on social media.

Person mourns at Covenant School memorial — Robin Wolfenden prays at a makeshift memorial for victims outside the Covenant School building at the Covenant Presbyterian Church following a shooting, in Nashville, Tennessee, on March 28, 2023. A heavily armed former student killed three young children and three staff in what appeared to be a carefully planned attack at a private elementary school in Nashville on March 27, before being shot dead by police. The shooter's mother previously petitioned for gun control. Getty

On February 21, 2018, Norma Hale shared a gun control petition on social media requesting Congress make large-capacity gun magazines illegal. A few weeks later on March 8, 2018, Norma Hale shared another petition titled "Keep Guns Out of Schools" with the caption "So important!"

It appears that Norma Hale's Facebook was either deleted or has strict privacy settings.

Gary Kleck, an emeritus professor of criminology at Florida State University, told Newsweek that calling for a ban of large-capacity magazines for weapons may not be the solution for gun control efforts.

"It doesn't really make any sense given what we know about how mass shootings actually occur," he said.

Kleck said typically mass shooters fire slowly, and only having access to smaller magazines likely won't deter a shooter. Instead, he said gun control should call for more comprehensive background checks, especially in the regard to mental illness, to prevent potential shooters from obtaining a weapon.