The essence of Evelyn Diekhaus is still there, captured in the pink Bible on which she underlined the word “Covenant” in silver ink and in the sunny photographs of her and her family.
It was in her diary recovered from the scene of the Covenant school shooting, where nine-year-old Evelyn had handwritten New Testament passages about compassion, kindness, and humility.
Since then, her mother, Katie Diekhaus, has kept fragments of her daughter's memories in what she calls a “little EV bag” as she takes her first steps into the thorny debate over gun control in Tennessee. I carry it around with me.
“I thought, 'Okay, Ev, let's go, let's try something,'” Diekhaus said this week, fighting back tears as she recalled her first meeting with lawmakers. “Let's help people work together. Let's see what we can do.”
Diekhaus and her husband, Mike, have rarely spoken publicly since their daughter and five others were murdered at Nashville's Covenant School on March 27, 2023. But they are now coming forward as Tennessee remains deeply divided on its pros and cons. Restrict access to guns.
Despite mounting pressure from gun control protesters after the mass shooting, the Republican-controlled Congress remains reluctant to impose new barriers to access to firearms. Gun control advocates were encouraged by a special legislative session in August convened to address public safety, but Republicans failed to pass any restrictions on carrying firearms. “We did what we believed was the voice of Tennessee in each district,” said state Rep. Jeremy Faison, a member of the Republican leadership, at the time.
Lawmakers have shown some willingness to respond to the Covenant situation this year, passing a bill that would require schools to establish procedures in case fire alarms are activated by an active shooter.
Several other bills are still being debated, including one that would make it a felony to threaten to commit mass violence and the governor's proposal to increase funding for agencies responsible for processing background checks. .
But the gulf between those who see gun rights as a sacred aspect of American identity and those who aspire to ban the most lethal weapons still yawns in Tennessee. Tennessee has steadily loosened its gun laws and refused to recognize its violations of the Second Amendment. . The hostility flared, and two Black Democratic congressmen who led gun control protests were expelled from the House floor.
To shield her family, especially her eldest daughter, who survived the shooting, from controversy and maintain hope for some change, Diekhaus and her husband decided to focus on a modest proposal within the state.
They join a long line of parents who lost children in school shootings and turned their grief into a plea for change. After Parkland, Florida, parents went to the White House to demand increased security at schools or restrictions on firearms. Parents of children at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut have created a nonprofit organization aimed at preventing gun violence. In Uvalde, Texas, the mother of one of the murdered students ran unsuccessfully for mayor.
In Nashville, the effort is being led by parents of surviving students, some of whom are gun owners and conservatives. They, their friends and other parents filled the halls of the state Capitol to support groups such as Rise and Shine Tennessee and Voices for America, a bipartisan nonprofit on which Diekhaus serves on the board. – Formed new groups such as “Safer Tennessee.''
“We're in it for the long haul,” Diekhaus said. “We've lost a lot, and we have another daughter that we want to protect along with everyone else.”
On Wednesday, many of his newfound allies and friends plan to gather and link arms from Vanderbilt's Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital to the state Capitol, more than eight miles away. It was held in honor of the three third-graders and three teachers who were killed at Covenant, as well as other gun violence victims across the state.
In taking their first steps toward advocacy, the Diekhauses were drawn to the policies and focus of Voices for a Safer Tennessee. The nonprofit advocates for stronger background checks and mandating safe storage of guns in vehicles. He also supports legislation that would allow courts to temporarily remove firearms from people found to be a threat to themselves or others.
The two parents decided to talk about their childhoods in small-town Missouri, but decided not to reveal their political leanings or positions to avoid distracting from the work at hand. .
“We want respectful conversations to take place, and we don't want people to feel like they have to shy away from that,” Diekhaus said.
And they end up sharing memories with Evelyn. It's still difficult to talk about Evelyn from the past, so Diekhaus sometimes lingers in the present tense. She's kind, gets her work done quickly, and has a spicy side too.
“I wanted to find a way to slow the bleeding and that kind of heartache,” Diekhaus said. She added, “I still have a lot to learn.”
