Proposed legislation that requires firearm safety to be taught in schools advanced from the House Education Instruction Committee Tuesday morning.
Representative Chris Todd, R-Madison County, says he created the bill with the hope that it would save lives by teaching kids what to do when they encounter a firearm.
“It’s certainly not about how to handle a firearm or proper techniques or anything like that. This is literally going to be more on the lines of ‘if you see a gun, tell an adult.’ And that’s the general concept that I think all of these type courses are going to have,” said Todd. “I think this is definitely going to save some lives.”
The bill would add a firearm safety section to the SAVE Act (Schools Against Violence in Education), which establishes state-level safety teams to help schools implement school safety plans and provides a framework for emergency planning.
The Tennessee Department of Safety, Tennessee Department of Education, and Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency would be tasked with putting together the plan and figuring out the most age-appropriate group to start the training. Afterwards, the safety training will continue throughout the rest of a student’s school career along with the other safety curriculums in the SAVE Act.
The bill’s requirements would not take away or add time from any existing curriculum and the implementation and how the program will be executed will be up to the school districts.
Todd received support from various local gun clubs across the state, including members of the Urban Defense Gun Club Inc. who said the bill would offer the necessary guidelines to educate students about firearm safety.
“As an organization with six local chapters and over 200 dedicated members in Tennessee, we firmly believe that House Bill 2882 offers essential guidelines to effectively inform and educate youth and children on firearm safety. We see this proposed legislation as a critical step in averting firearm-related accidents while fostering greater awareness and responsibility among gun owners,” said the organization in a statement.
Multiple Democrats on the committee opposed the bill including Representatives Gloria Johnson, D-Knoxville, who told committee members that this is not the way to help students.
Johnson said some parents who have experienced gun violence don’t want their children to be triggered by the class.
“They’re teaching children, they’re not administering to them and they always don’t know the full history of the child. And I just think we’re setting some kids up for a very rough time unnecessarily,” said Johnson. “When kids ask questions, they’re going to talk about gun violence and they’re going to talk about these things and I don’t know how the person who’s doing this training is supposed to address gun violence in a neutral way.”
Another Democrat raised religious concerns.
Representative Vincent Dixie, D-Nashville, argued that parents should have an opt-out of the firearm safety class.
“If we have people that can opt-out of reading books, then should be able to have someone opt-out of this if they don’t choose it’s appropriate for their child. Cause I thought we believe in parent choice,” said Dixie.
Representative Ronnie Glynn, D-Clarksville, was the sole Democrat on the committee to vote for the bill, joining 11 Republicans to advance it.
Supporters argued the proposed legislation is well defined and needed to prepare students for a life when they might someday come in contact with a firearm.
“It all seems pretty common sensical to me, and again as (Todd) mentioned earlier, you’d want them to know safety and hazards related to a fire, related to traffic, related to traffic or anything that could harm or kill a child. And so, I think the chances of a minor seeing a gun at some point is – that’s a reality of life,” said. Mark Cochran, R-Englewood. “Knowing what to do if you see that is very important.”
