NASHVILLE, Tennessee — The owners of a Nashville-area floral design boutique are giving new meaning to the phrase “flower power.”
The business is refusing to fill an order for a Republican National Committee fundraising event this weekend and encouraging other flower shops to boycott until the party starts making changes to gun laws.
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FLWR Shop owners Alex Vaughan and Quinn Kiesow said they “immediately declined” the Republican request for the event that will feature former President Donald Trump, former Vice President Mike Pence, and other GOP notables.
In a letter declining the job, the owners claimed the “speakers listed are beyond our comfort level.”
“Our community has just lost seven people, including three young children, to yet another school shooting,” it read. “At this moment, I cannot ignore the work that the RNC has done to create this tragedy and so many others just like it.”
“The Republican Party not only refuses to enact change, but many members of the party have worked to pass legislation that makes this problem worse, like the recent changes to gun laws here in Tennessee,” it added.
The letter goes on to slam the GOP for “wasting taxpayer money and precious legislative will on banning drag shows, rather than assault rifles that are being used to murder children in their classrooms.”
While the owners did not disclose the dollar amount of the job, they did say it was “large” and not something they would typically turn down. They added, “We will not be accepting any of your money. The blood of the 3 beautiful babies we lost in Nashville is on that money.”
A shooter opened fire at the Covenant School, a private academy in a Nashville neighborhood, in March, killing six people — three 9-year-olds, as well as a custodian, a substitute teacher, and the head of the school.
The shooter had legally purchased five firearms from local gun stores and stashed them around their house, using three of them in the grisly attack. The weapons included a military-style semiautomatic rifle, a handgun, and a 9 mm carbine, a long gun that has a shortened barrel.
Police have not yet identified a motive for the shooting, but the tragedy sparked protests around the state and calls for gun reform.
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Three Democratic lawmakers also took up the cause, joining a protest at the state Capitol. The Republican-led supermajority responded by expelling two of them, which led to widespread condemnation across the country and accusations of racism.
Calls to the RNC for comment were not returned.
