May 5, 2024
By: Dwayne Page
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has signed legislation allowing teachers and school staff in the state to be armed in school buildings and campuses.
State lawmakers approved the bill which authorizes a faculty or staff member of a school to carry a concealed handgun on school grounds, subject to certain conditions including having approval from the principal and others to possess a gun.
In Tennessee, school personnel who want to carry a concealed weapon must:
• Get an enhanced carry permit
• Get written authorization from the superintendent, principal and the chief of the appropriate law enforcement agency
• Complete 40 hours of basic training in school policing and 40 hours of Peace Officer’s Standards and Training commission-approved training that is specific to school policing each year at the educator’s expense
• Complete a background check
• Undergo a psychological exam conducted by a Tennessee-licensed health care provider
The law does not, however, allow people to openly carry weapons “or in any other manner in which the handgun is visible to ordinary observation,” and does not allow handguns to be carried in “stadiums, gymnasiums, or auditoriums when school-sponsored events are in progress,” nor in meetings where tenure or disciplinary matters are being discussed. Also, parents would not necessarily know or be notified if their child’s teacher were armed.
State Representative Michael Hale of DeKalb County said he supported the legislation, and he explained why in an interview with WJLE.
“This bill was written by one of the people with the sheriff’s association and I had a conversation with a couple of chiefs, sheriff, and one of our county mayors that would be greatly affected by this. One of the reasons I voted for it is that it gives control back to the local governments for the decision to be made between the school system, sheriff, and principal. They are able to make the decision whether they want to do this or not,” he said
According to Representative Hale, the new law will enhance security and give support to SRO’s in schools, particularly in isolated rural areas.
“We (state legislature) passed the SRO bill last year which gives $75,000 per officer and pays for those officers and covers that but, for example on any given day in Cannon County we have three schools that are totally unprotected. They have no SRO in those schools making them a wide-open target every day with the students, teachers, and faculty,” said Representative Hale.
“Concerns remain even for those rural schools that do have an SRO but are several minutes away from town (county seat) such as DeKalb West School at Liberty or Defeated Creek in Smith County. If I am the shooter and I go into these places I know I have only one (armed) person (SRO) to take down,” Hale explained.
“This goes back to what happened at Covenant (Nashville) last year. In part of her writings, she (shooter) looked at doing Opry Mills and at other schools but the fact that there were armed people there was what deterred her from targeting those. She had also tracked out how long it would take police and back up to get there,” Representative Hale continued.
“One of the things I think people don’t realize was that in 2016 or 2017 a bill was passed by the state legislature for distressed counties where people were allowed to carry in schools with only a concealed permit. College professors were able to be armed. That’s been on the books for several years. I didn’t even know that until we started working through this but this new law with the stricter parameters is far greater than what was done in 2016-17”.
“I just feel like having extra security is a win for our students and faculty. Its an extra safeguard. Plus, there are so many parameters. They (teachers) would have to get a concealed carry permit, 40 hours of training which involves active shooter training, and the sheriff, director of schools, and principal would have to sign off on it. I just feel like this is a good thing for added security in rural counties because we are not dealing with gun violence. We are dealing with people violence, and we have to be able to guard and safeguard the best we can against these people that will do these acts,” said Representative Hale.