Calls for stricter gun control laws rang out of Kentucky and Tennessee on Tuesday in the wake of two mass shootings. In Louisville, Kentucky, officials said the gunman who killed five people at a bank Monday legally purchased the AR-15-style weapon of war used in the attack just last week. At least three survivors of the attack remained hospitalized as of Tuesday. Dr. Jason Smith, chief medical officer at University of Louisville Health, pleaded with lawmakers to stop the endless tragedies.

Dr. Jason Smith: “And people say, ’I’m tired.’ But I’ll be — answer. It’s more than tired. I’m weary. There’s only so many times you can walk into a room and tell someone they’re not coming home tomorrow. And it just breaks your heart when you hear someone screaming 'Mommy' or 'Daddy.' … To everyone who helps make policy, both at state, city, federal, I would simply ask you to do something, because doing nothing, which is what we’ve been doing, is not working.”

Meanwhile, Democratic Mayor Craig Greenberg said 40 people in Louisville had lost their lives to gun violence so far in 2023 and that “The laws we have now are enabling violence and murder.”

Mayor Craig Greenberg: “Please, change our state law to let Louisville make its own decisions about reducing the amount of illegal guns on our streets and gun violence, that is killing far too many people, in mass shootings, in individual shootings, in any shootings.”

Greenberg himself is a survivor of a shooting last year at his campaign headquarters. Louisville is holding a vigil today for the victims of Monday’s massacre.

Also on Tuesday, Tennessee’s Republican Governor Bill Lee signed an executive order tightening background checks for gun purchases. Lee also called on state lawmakers to pass “red flag” laws that would allow authorities to remove guns from people deemed to be a risk to others or themselves. This comes two weeks after a mass shooting at a Nashville school killed six people, and one week after the GOP-led ouster of two Black Democrats who led a peaceful protest against gun violence on the Tennessee House floor. One of the lawmakers, Justin Jones, was reinstated Monday, while the other, Justin Pearson, could be reinstated today.