Gov. Bill Lee of Tennessee told reporters Thursday that he plans to sign Republican-driven legislation that will let teachers carry guns in classrooms.
“What’s important to me is that we give districts tools,” Lee said of the bill that is predicated on the deranged theory that more guns in schools will somehow create less gun violence. “That’s what we want more than anything is to add an additional tool, an additional option, for our kids to be as safe as possible in schools.”
Passed by the state House on Tuesday, Senate Bill 1325 allows teachers to carry concealed firearms in districts that choose the option and clear it with local law enforcement agencies. This is the latest attempt by members of the GOP-controlled Tennessee Legislature to pretend they are listening to increasing calls from their constituents to do something about gun violence.
Opponents of introducing more guns into schools question how arming teachers with very minimal training is going to stop potential mass shooters from easily purchasing gunsamong many other concerns.
Surveys cited by nonprofit gun violence prevention group Everytown for Gun Safety show that most teachers and parents of school-aged children are opposed to arming teachers. No matter who has the guns, a long list of past incidents proves that the presence of guns on school campuses is unsafe.
The Tennessee bill requires participating teachers to receive 40 hours of gun safety training. That is less than one-third of the training required under a similar Florida plan—which was already being criticized for being far less than the requirement for police recruits.
In the wake of a March 2023 mass shooting at a Christian private school in Nashville that left three children and three staffers dead, Tennessee lawmakers have faced pressure from constituents to do something about the No. 1 killer of children under 18 years old in the U.S.—gun violence. Since that time:
Tennessee Republicans’ belief that more guns in schools = safety is not simply delusional: It’s dangerous.
Here’s one way to avoid dealing with election results you don’t like: just wipe them from the record books. It’s not Orwell—it’s Arizona, and we’re talking all about it on this week’s episode of “The Downballot.” This fall, voters have the chance to deny new terms to two conservative Supreme Court justices, but a Republican amendment would retroactively declare those elections null and void—and all but eliminate the system Arizona has used to evaluate judges for 50 years. We’re going to guess voters won’t like this one bit … if it even makes it to the ballot in the first place.
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