Vanderbilt’s chapter of Students Demand Action rallied on Oct. 7 at the grand opening of Smith & Wesson’s new headquarters in Maryville, Tenn., to call attention to the company’s role in the gun violence crisis of the U.S. Joining SDA were gun violence survivors, family of gun violence victims, Maryville’s Moms Demand Action and more. 

At the protest, SDA flew a banner attached to a plane that read “Tennessee’s new killer business guns are the #1 killer of kids.” 

“We’re here today to call out Smith & Wesson’s irresponsible practices and demand accountability — because despite being aware of the harm their guns cause, all we see is business as usual, and we won’t stand for that,” junior Zack Maaieh said at the protest.

Maaieh is a member of Vanderbilt’s SDA chapter and SDA’s national board.

“The gun industry chooses to perpetuate gun violence by advertising to minors and using toxic militaristic and fear-mongering language, all instead of promoting gun safety and innovating to make their guns safer,” Maaieh said.

SDA also spoke of the consequences of The Covenant School shooting, declaring that Smith & Wesson’s new headquarters are the “last thing they need.”  

“As a native Tennessean, it’s heartbreaking that our community has already gone through tragedy and grief with the Covenant school shooting but now have to deal with this horrific news,” junior Iman Omer, a volunteer leader with Vanderbilt Students Demand Action, said.

Omer, who spoke at the protest, urged attendees to sign their petition to demand Smith & Wesson to reassess the safety of their products and end the marketing of their products to younger generations. 

According to Everytown Research, gun violence claims an average of 40,000 lives each year and costs American taxpayers $557 billion nationally in police investigations, medical treatment and victim care. 

Smith & Wesson is the nation’s largest manufacturer of assault weapons. Their original headquarters were located in Springfield, Mass., with Massachusetts being one of the strictest in the country regarding gun safety and laws. The state requires buyers to go through processes such as background checks and training before legal purchase.

In comparison, in the past few years, Tennessee has changed their laws to allow both open and concealed carry without requiring a permit to carry a firearm. 

According to Maaieh, it is “hurtful” that Tennessee’s legislators have not passed more extreme gun safety legislation and allowed a prominent gun manufacturing company to continue to perpetuate the “‘killer business’ gun industry” in Tennessee.  

“Whatever jobs they bring to the state can never justify the thousands of Tennesseans that are shot and killed using the guns they irresponsibly manufacture and sell, as well as the unquantifiable amount of trauma our communities continue to face,” Maaieh said.

Smith & Wesson is the second leading manufacturer of recovered crime guns in 2021. Meanwhile, the rate of gun deaths in Tennessee has increased 52% from 2012 to 2021, and their AR-15 guns have been used in mass shootings across the country such as Parkland, San Bernardino and Aurora.

“Tennessean communities are facing the consequences of their killer business every single day,” Maaieh said. “As long as [Smith & Wesson] continue their reckless behavior unchecked, we will show up and hold them accountable.”