Linking Arms for Change in Nashville, Tennessee.Photo: Ray Di Pietro/Shutterstock

Image: The end point of Linking Arms for Change in Nashville on Union Street and onto Legislative Plaza in front of the Tennessee State Capitol. Linking Arms for Change: Organized by Voices for a Safer Tennessee, yesterday in Nashville over 9,000 people of all ages linked arms from 5:15pm to 5:45pm for 3 miles from Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt to the Tennessee State Capitol asking for common sense gun safety laws following The Covenant School shooting on March 27, 2023 where 6 were killed, including 3 nine year old 3rd grade students. Nashville, TN. April 18, 2023. Linking Arms for Change in Nashville, Tennesse State Capitol, Nashville, TN, USA - 18 Apr 2023

On the heels of thefatal mass shooting that claimed the lives of six peopleat a Nashville school, advocates are once again pushing for gun reform.

“It’s really hard in a place like Tennessee where partisan politics are seemingly everywhere and intractable,” parent Quin Evans Segall tells PEOPLE. “People seem to really agree on this and are willing to do what it takes to show that we can come together and actually make positive change.”

Voices for a Safer Tennessee.Saul Young/News Sentinel/USA TODAY NETWORK

More than 400 people held hands or linked arms to form a massive circle on Market Square on Tuesday, April 18, 2023 to advocate for safer gun laws. The event was organized by Voices for a Safer Tennessee. Gun Law Demonstration

Thousands of supporters showed up three weeks after the March 27 massacre at the Covenant School, a private Christian school. Three children and three adults were killed in the attack.

“The culture of Nashville is one that when anything happens that is awful or tragic, people show up,” notes Segall. “What we’re seeing now is just Nashville and Tennessee being what they are at their best.”

The Covenant School mass shooter was a former student. Killed in the attack were Evelyn Dieckhaus, 9,Hallie Scruggs, 9, William Kinney, 9, Cynthia Peak, 61,Katherine Koonce, 60, andMike Hill, 61.

Top Row, L-R: Katherine Koonce, Mike Hill, Cynthia Peak Bottom Row, L-R: Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs.The Covenant School; Facebook (4)

Top Row, L-R: Katherine Koonce, Mike Hill, Cynthia Peak Bottom Row, L-R: Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs.

The trauma has united the Nashville community, says Mayor John Cooper in a statement to PEOPLE.

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“We must do more to keep guns out of the hands of people who pose a risk to themselves and others. The time to turn our grief and sympathy into action is right now,” he says.

Cooper has been outspoken in the push for gun violence prevention.

On Wednesday, he and three other Tennessee mayors wrote a letter to Governor Bill Lee recommending strict policy changes to curb gun violence, including requiring background checks for all gun purchases.

source: people.com