The Tennessee House chamber once again turned into chaos Tuesday following debate on legislation involving guns.
House members voted 68-28 vote to pass a bill allowing teachers and school staff to carry firearms on school grounds and in classrooms. Immediately after the vote, spectators above began shouting, “Blood on your hands,” prompting House Republican leaders to call on state troopers to escort demonstrators out.
Bill sponsor Representative Ryan Williams, R-Cookeville, told House members his goal with the legislation is to act as a deterrent and says the standards for a teacher to carry are very high.
“This bill is something that I’ve worked on for a great period of time. The big challenge though is the discussion around this bill is dramatically different than what you’ve all heard from me already. The facts are that this bill is 100 percent permissive,” said Williams. “This bill, it seeks to make the bar so high, but to allow the locals to have the ability to do that, that it would create a deterrent across our state.”
Under the legislation, a teacher must have an enhanced carry permit and will be required to complete 40 hours of training with the authorized law enforcement agency, along with passing mental health and criminal background checks.
Local law enforcement, the principal, and the director of schools will also have to sign off staff members who want to carry a concealed firearm.
“As a parent of public-school kids – my kids are grown now – one of the biggest questions that people ask me all the time, they ask you, I’m certain, ‘have you done everything you can possibly do to make our schools safe across the state?’ I believe that this is a method by which we can do that,” said Williams.
Supporters of the bill argue that it protects children and addresses an issue some rural and smaller counties have with few active officers on duty.
“As I look around, one of the few people that has a child in public school and will spend the next eleven years in public school, I trust my local law enforcement, I trust my director of schools, I trust my teachers. If they believe this is what’s right in that specific community, and it’s permissive and they think that’s going to help take care of my child, I fully support this bill,” said Representative Brock Martin, R-Huntingdon.
As it moved through the committee process, the bill has seen outspoken opposition from teachers and parents alike, including parents of students at Covenant School in Nashville where six people died in last year’s school shooting.
Democrats also united in opposition to the bill, arguing teachers and schools could be liable for damages if an unauthorized person or student gets access to the gun and fires it or a teacher accidentally fires it.
“I don’t know how anybody could sit around and eat right now because I’m sick to my stomach that we have to be here listening to this bill,” said Representative Jason Powell, D-Nashville. “This is dangerous. It’s going to have dangerous consequences and impacts all around. Think about law enforcement. How is law enforcement going to feel safe going into a school knowing there are guns? It’s going to delay responses. It is going to put law enforcement in danger.”
Before the vote, Democrats unsuccessfully proposed nearly two dozen amendments including requiring the handgun to be locked in storage, requiring parents to be notified when teachers are bringing guns, excluding Shelby and Hamilton Counties from the legislation, allowing parents and guardians to give written consent to having firearms in the classroom, requiring anyone carrying a handgun on school property to notify fellow faculty and staff, and allowing parents who object the ability to have their child reassigned to a different classroom.
Representative Bo Mitchell, D-Nashville, was among those speaking against the bill. He apologized to spectators in the gallery above as House Republican leaders turned his mic off.
“If there’s any Covenant parents in the gallery today, I want to apologize to you right now. I am so sorry that you are having to sit here and listen to this. We’ve done nothing for you, we’ve lied to you,” said Mitchell. “We have failed you. We have done nothing for you whatsoever.”
Representative Justin Jones, D-Nashville, also put forth an amendment to rename the bill the “The Refusal to Protect Kids in School Act.” That proposal failed.
“This bill is morally insane and we’ve come to this chamber for a year expecting you to pass common sense gun laws, you have mothers and grandmothers here dragged from this chamber every week, saying ‘arm teachers with books they need, the materials they need, the resources they need, but for God’s sake you don’t hear them,” said Jones.
The Senate version of the bill passed earlier this month on a party line vote.
Governor Lee still needs to sign the legislation before it becomes law.
Multiple school districts including Metro Nashville Public Schools and Sumner County Schools have said they do not plan to let teachers carry guns.
