NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Tennessee House passed a bill on Tuesday that would let some educators bring guns to school after it was held during the previous legislative session. The Senate previously passed the bill.
The bill lets school faculty and staff have concealed handguns at the schools they are assigned to. Educators would need to have a handgun carry permit and have written permission from their director of schools, as well as from the school's principal.
Educators who want to have guns on school grounds would also need to be fingerprinted, and be certified by mental healthcare workers to not have any diagnosable mental health issues. They would also need to complete 40 hours of basic training in school policing. People with prior law enforcement experience, or who are law enforcement officers with the same training, would also be able to have guns on school grounds.
A small amendment adopted in the Senate specified that the training must include hands-on instruction with the authorizing law enforcement agency, and the person who wants to bring a gun on school property would need to pay for it.
The bill also says district leaders would need to alert law enforcement agencies that a person was authorized to carry guns on school grounds. The bill specifically said communication between directors of schools, principals and law enforcement about the person would be considered confidential, as well as the person's written authorization. The bill said the names and contact information of people allowed to carry guns in school would also be confidential.
The bill restricts people from openly carrying guns, and would not let guns be brought into stadiums, gymnasiums and auditoriums during school events. Guns also would not be allowed into meetings on tenure issues, disciplinary matters, or areas where medical and mental health services are provided.
It also protects schools and law enforcement agencies from lawsuits related to educators' use of guns if they were legally allowed to bring them to schools. Supporters of the bill said it was meant to guarantee a quick response during active shooter situations, especially in counties that have small law enforcement agencies.
Several amendments were proposed to HB 1202 on Tuesday, after the Republican supermajority voted to limit debate to a minute, down from the usual five minutes. Some of the amendments would have required guns to be securely stored while on school property, would have required teachers to go through more training before bringing guns to school, and would have kept school districts liable if a teacher committed a crime with a gun they brought to school.
The amendments were introduced by Democratic lawmakers and were voted down by the Republican supermajority.
Other failed amendments would have notified parents if teachers had guns, and a failed amendment from Rep. Justin Jones (D - Nashville) would have renamed the bill to the "Refusal to Protect Kids in Schools Act." While speaking on his amendment, Jones accused Republican lawmakers of valuing donations from gun lobbyists more than the lives of students.
"This is going to have dangerous consequences all around. Think about law enforcement ... This is going to put people in danger. How is law enforcement going to know who is an assailant, and who is a teacher with a gun?" said Rep. Jason Powell (D - Nashville) on Tuesday.
Other Democratic lawmakers from Chattanooga, Nashville and Memphis asked for their cities to be exempted from the bill due to crime-related concerns. Proposals allowing those exemptions were voted down by the Republican supermajority in the House.
While discussing the amendments, Rep. Cameron Sexton (R - Crossville) warned the public gallery he would remove them as they shouted for the bill to be voted down.
"If there's any Covenant parents in the gallery right now, I want to apologize right now," said Rep. Bo Mitchell (D - Nashville).
His comment was met with shouts from the gallery condemning the Republican supermajority. One woman was removed. Previously, activists speaking out against the bill were arrested from the gallery.
"I hear so often up here that schools are failing. This legislation is failing our schools," said Rep. Gloria Johnson (D - Knoxville). "This is even more dangerous than doing nothing. We need to stop the guns before they get to the school ... You all want to bring the gun battle into the classroom."
Rep. Sabi Kumar (R - Springfield) said the bill is meant to protect students and also said he heard "misinformation" and Rep. Jason Zachary (R - Knoxville) also said he supported it after hearing about the number of open SRO positions in rural schools.
Before being revived, the House version was held on April 17, 2023, following protests stemming from inaction by lawmakers to address gun violence following the deadly Covenant School shooting.
It passed to shouts of "No," from the gallery. People there was then cleared by state troopers as people in the gallery chanted, "Blood on your hands."
"I am still in shock and sickened by the legislature that thinks this is the solution to eliminate the risk of our students getting shot at," said Mary Joyce, the mother of a student killed in the Covenant shooting.
Rep. Jones was then called out of order for filming on the House floor.
Soon after the shooting, that year's Vanderbilt Poll was released and revealed that guns were the third-most important issue according to polled voters — behind only education and the state's economy.
The poll found that 82% of respondents support strengthening background checks for gun purchases, such as what Governor Bill Lee proposed following the Covenant School shooting in Nashville. They also said that a majority of respondents supported a "red flag" law that would temporarily restrict gun access to people who are a risk of harming themselves or others.
During a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting, Bailey said he worked with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police to make the bill, as well as other organizations.
During the same meeting, a person wearing a Moms Demand Action shirt provided written testimony against the bill.
"This bill will add to the number of guns in school settings, something the majority of Tennessee parents simply do not want. This bill keeps parents in the dark, they will not know which teachers are carrying guns because their identity would be confidential. This bill opposes parental choice, something this body advocates for," she said. "The National Association of School Resource Officers strongly opposes arming teachers, due to the risk it would pose to law enforcement, to students, and to the school community."
She also said she was worried about the bill putting teachers in the role of law enforcement, without proper training. She also said it would increase the likelihood of students getting ahold of misplaced guns in schools.
Tennessee's gun laws are ranked among some of the least restrictive in the U.S. and has a gun violence death rate of 20.9 per 100,000 people, compared to a national average of 14.4 gun violence deaths per 100,000 people, according to Everytown for Gun Safety.