In April, Gov. Bill Lee signed into law Senate Bill 1146, which requires testing the blood of mass shooters for drugs — including antidepressants, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), benzodiazepines and “gender-altering medications.”
Now the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Rusty Crowe (R-Johnson City), says he plans to “strengthen the law next session to ensure testing occurs whether a shooter is killed or captured and in cases where there are numerous wounded victims.”
Crowe’s announcement comes two days after a mass shooter at a Minnesota Catholic church and school killed two children — 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel and 10-year-old Harper Moyski — and wounded 17 others.
Scant progress on gun safety follows tragic legacies of Nashville school shootings
Democrats and others have called for gun reform in the wake of the attack. Instead, many Republican officials are zeroing in on the gender identity of the Minnesota shooter, who according to federal law enforcement officials was a transgender woman. The shooter in Nashville’s 2023 Covenant School attack was identified as a transgender man.
Crowe argues that “the widespread use of powerful psychotropic drugs began around the same time we saw a rise in these horrific attacks,” echoing similar statements from Vice President J.D. Vance and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Department of Justice data shows that the vast majority of mass shootings in the U.S. are committed by white males, adding that “research indicates the role of mental illness in mass shootings is complicated, not clear-cut.” Reports show that the overwhelming majority of mass shootings in recent decades have been carried out by cisgender men.
“Hopefully this legislation can help our behavioral health and other medical professionals gain insight into the potential impact these drugs have on brain chemistry and violent behavior,” Crowe says in a statement. “By gathering this information, we can equip medical professionals, law enforcement, and policymakers with real data to help prevent future tragedies.”
