Bill to arm Tennessee teachers passes another legislative hurdle

A bill to arm some Tennessee teachers passed yet another key legislative hurdle, moving one step closer to the full state House

The legislation, HB 2208, would allow a select number of teachers to carry guns on campuses across Tennessee. It would expand a 2016 law that already allows two rural counties to have armed teachers.

The bill passed the House Civil Justice Committee on Tuesday on an 8-3 vote. It will next move to a House education committee for consideration.

Reps. David Byrd, R-Waynesboro, Mike Carter, R-Ooltewah, and Andrew Farmer, R-Sevierville, have argued the bill is necessary due to the absence of funding for school resource officers across the state.

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Less than half of the state’s roughly 1,800 schools have a school resource officer in the building. Byrd’s bill has over 45 House sponsors. An amendment was added to the bill during the committee that would eliminate the need to arm teachers if a school resource officer is at a school.

“We are all here for the same reason,” Farmer said. “We are here to protect the lives of every student.”

The proposal comes as Tennessee is in the middle of a nationwide debate about how to protect schools in the wake of a deadly school shooting in Parkland, Florida last month left 17 people dead.

Separately, Gov. Bill Haslam on Tuesday unveiled a $30 million effort to improve school safety. The governor said the exact use of the money would be determined upon the conclusion of his recently formed working group, tasked with creating school safety recommendations.

The proposal to arm teachers has faced pushback from law enforcement, education and parent groups. Haslam has said he has concerns about the bill.

“Such a small percentage of teachers would want to do that,” Haslam said. “My fear is we pass something and say, ‘Oh, well that took care of the problem.’ Most teachers don’t want to be armed. Most school boards aren’t going to authorize them to be armed. Most people aren’t going to go through the training to do that.”

The bill would give school boards and school directors the power to adopt a policy allowing select school staff to carry a concealed firearm on school property.

The proposal, co-sponsored by Sen. Joey Hensley, R-Hohenwald, would allow one school employee to carry a gun for every 75 students enrolled at the school. That person would need to possess and maintain a state-issued handgun carry permit and have completed 40 hours of handgun training.

It requires annual training for that person and the superintendent to notify law enforcement about who is authorized to carry a gun on a school campus.

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The passage of the bill occurred on the same day Haslam announced the $30 million for school safety plan.

But Rep. Martin Daniel, R-Knoxville, said the money the governor proposed spending won’t provide for enough school resource officers to cover every district in the state.

“We would still be at a big deficit as far as SRO needs,” Daniel said.

During the civil just committee meeting, Tennessee Sheriffs' Association and Tennessee Association of Chief of Police representatives spoke out against the bill

“The organization fundamentally believes that school resource officers are the only way to address school safety," said retired sheriff Terry Ashe, the sheriffs' association executive director.

The Tennessee Education Association, the state’s teacher union, has also spoken out about the bill. And parent group Moms Demand Action, which advocates for additional gun-control laws, also testified against the bill before the committee.

Reach Jason Gonzales at jagonzales@tennessean.com and on Twitter @ByJasonGonzales.