The tragic shooting deaths of three children and three adults at a Christian elementary school in Tennessee were yet again met with sadness and prayer, but in business as usual, there was no move to create stricter gun bans in that state.

The daunting political divide between Republicans and Democrats is an obvious checkerboard around the US, with each state passing opposing laws depending upon their political leadership.

When it comes to mass shootings and gun bans or gun control, Republican-led states offer dramatically different laws and reactions to mass shootings as compared to states controlled by Democrats.

This polarization in views about gun laws is striking, regarding what is legal depending on where you live. Just like the Democrat versus Republican states’ aggressively different laws about abortion, gun laws by state are a politicized, legal reality with no cohesive national approach.

In 2022, the US endured over six hundred mass shootings, resulting in numerous fatalities. Already in 2023, three mass shootings in California in a week killed a few dozen victims, and another shooting spree in L.A. killed three more people a few days later. California, a Democrat-led state, has some of the strictest gun laws in the nation.

Now, Republican-led Tennessee and Texas, and other states, even after this latest Tennessee mass shooting, are gearing up to enhance the access to guns for residents.

The legislature in Tennessee is proposing numerous bills that would allow teachers to carry firearms and college students to carry their weapons on campus.

Laws limiting gun-free zones have now been passed in numerous Republican-led states such as Kentucky, Ohio, Nebraska, Texas and Virginia.

Florida, just last week, approved the bill making it legal to carry concealed weapons almost everywhere without a permit.

In Texas, Republican Governor Greg Abbot, reacting to demands to raise the legal age from 18 to 21 for someone to own a gun such as a semi-automatic rifle said that he would not agree.

Referring to the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, Abbot said, “It is clear that the gun control law that they are seeking in Uvalde, as much as they may want it, it has already been ruled to be unconstitutional.”

Only six states currently mandate that someone must be 21 to purchase a gun, including Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Vermont and Washington. But in January, Alabama became the 25th state to announce they will not require any permits for anyone to carry a gun in public.

After the Uvalde massacre, a federal judge in Texas struck down one of Texas’ few firearm restrictions still on the books. The judge ruled that a Texas law barring anyone under 21 from carrying a handgun is unconstitutional.

Reacting to a school shooting in St. Louis, Republican Missouri Gov. Mike Parson did not consider imposing restrictions on access to guns, including automatic weapons. Instead, he proposed a $50 million budget to be enacted for school safety grants, so metal detectors, shooter alarm systems, and other such measures, would be activated in schools.

In Missouri and other states, numerous Democratic state legislators are trying to pass “Red Flag” laws, which would prohibit court orders to temporarily seize guns from someone considered a danger to themselves or others. But Red Flag laws are being called “unconstitutional” by powerful and popular gun lobbies such as Grass Roots North Carolina.

Following a mass shooting in Oklahoma, Republican state Representative Jim Olsen filed a new bill - to lower the age to carry a gun from 21 to 18.

“It’s a constitutional right,” said Olsen. “The immaturity that exists at 18 sometimes also still exists at 22. So, what do we want to do? Raise the age to 25 or 30? I would think not.”

Currently, nineteen states plus D.C. have Red Flag laws, with all but two being Democrat-led. Numerous gun organizations, such as the National Rifle Association, oppose Red Flag laws, claiming they violate a person's due process rights.