Tennessee passes bill allowing teachers to carry guns

Just days after the 25th anniversary of the Columbine High School Massacre, this US state passed a bill allowing teachers to carry concealed weapons to class.

More than 370,000 American students have experienced gun violence at school since the notorious 1999 Columbine High School Massacre and more than 400 US school shootings have happened since then, according to The Washington Post.

One US state has taken a controversial stand: Give teachers guns.

Politicians in Tennessee, population 7 million, passed a bill allowing teachers, principals and other school staff to carry concealed handguns.

The vote, which passed 68-28, comes a year after a deadly shooting at an elementary school in the state. The House’s approval was met with chants from the gallery, “Blood on your hands!”

Under the bill, parents would not necessarily know or be notified if their child’s teacher were armed.

Protesters disrupt Tennessee Capitol after guns for teachers bill passes https://t.co/s9kSzPtDrHpic.twitter.com/cLQ9IxcndL

— Newsweek (@Newsweek) April 24, 2024

The legislation sets out requirements for school employees including completing 40 hours of “basic training in school policing” in addition to a further 40 hours of training per year.

The measure was passed a little more than a year after an assailant opened fire at an elementary school in Nashville, killing three children and three staff before being killed by police.

This image shows one of the three guns used by the shooter and recovered at the scene along with significant ammunition at the Covenant School building at the Covenant Presbyterian Church, in Nashville, Tennessee. Picture: AFP

School shootings are terrifyingly commonplace in the United States, and after each tragedy there are renewed calls for greater gun control.

But federal action on the issue has been limited, leaving states and local councils to enact their own rules on firearms, which can differ widely between different jurisdictions.

More than half of all 50 US states have some type of law allowing school employees to carry concealed guns on campus, according to data compiled by the Giffords Law Centre.

Iowa is the most recent state to push for arming teachers, sending a bill last week to the state governor that would allow teachers to carry guns on school grounds.

Ohio recently invested in active shooter training equipment for school staff to improve safety responses to potential mass shootings, although there was some teacher resistance.

And in Utah it is not uncommon for school teachers to spend their summer break learning how to fire weapons and train for an active shooter situation.

Gun violence overall is frequent in the United States, a nation where there are more firearms than people.

Attempts to clamp down on gun rights are always met with stiff political resistance largely because the right to bear arms is written into the American Constitution and the National Rifle Association is a 150-year old lobby group with a lot of political clout.

The United States has recorded 120 mass shootings in 2024 already, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

Last year ended with a total of 656 such shootings.

The Tennessee bill’s passage comes as the Columbine High School massacre marked it 25th anniversary on April 20.

Incoming Columbine High School students Ava Kyle (L) and Ellie Fairweather place flowers atop the Columbine Memorial in Clement Park on the 25th anniversary of the school shooting. Picture: AFP

That horrific event, which happened in Littleton, Colorado in 1999, shocked America and the world.

The retired principal who survived the massacre told People Magazine he was still haunted by it.

“Every morning before my feet hit the ground, the first thing I do is recite the names” of the 13 victims, Frank DeAngelis told People. “I’ve done this for the past 25 years.”

Retired Columbine High School principal Frank DeAngelis, fights back tears during a 25th Year Remembrance ceremony on April 19, 2024 in Denver, Colorado. Picture: AFP

DeAngelis was in his school office on the morning of April 20, 1999 when his secretary told him there were reports of gunfire in the building.

“The first thing I’m thinking, is, ‘This has to be a senior prank,’” he recalled to People. “I’m running out of my office and my worst nightmare becomes a reality. The gunman’s coming towards me.”

Dylan Klebold. Picture: AFP

Eric Harris. Picture: AFP

There were in fact two gunmen: senior students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, armed with multiple guns who went on a shooting spree when their makeshift bomb failed to detonate, killing 12 students, one teacher, and injuring 21 before turning the guns on themselves.

It was the deadliest school shooting in American history at the time.

The death toll has since been surpassed five times, most notably in Sandy Hook, Connecticut in December 2012 when 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot and killed 20 children between six and seven years old, and six staff members.

The most recent was in Uvalde, Texas, in 2022, when 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, a former student at the school, fatally shot 19 students and two teachers.

Originally published as Tennessee passes bill allowing teachers to carry guns