NASHVILLE, Tenn. — As long as their school districts pass policies allowing it, educators with carry permits can now bring guns to schools across Tennessee.
On Friday, Governor Bill Lee signed a bill into law that lets teachers who go through training and notify administrators to bring concealed handguns to school. It marks a large expansion of gun access in the state.
The law does not require school districts to notify parents if students are in a classroom with a gun. It also is not explicitly limited to teachers — other school staff like custodians or nutrition workers can bring guns to school. Proposals requiring guns to be securely stored while on school property or requiring additional training failed in the legislature.
Educators who want to have guns on school grounds would need to be fingerprinted, and be certified by mental healthcare workers to not have any diagnosable mental health issues. They would also need to complete 40 hours of basic training in school policing. People with prior law enforcement experience, or who are law enforcement officers with the same training, would also be able to have guns on school grounds.
Administrators also need to notify local law enforcement that the teacher can bring a gun to school.
A small amendment adopted in the Senate specified that the training must include hands-on instruction with the authorizing law enforcement agency, and the person who wants to bring a gun on school property would need to pay for it.
The law restricts people from openly carrying guns, and would not let guns be brought into stadiums, gymnasiums and auditoriums during school events. Guns also would not be allowed into meetings on tenure issues, disciplinary matters, or areas where medical and mental health services are provided.
It also protects schools and law enforcement agencies from lawsuits related to educators' use of guns if they were legally allowed to bring them to schools. Supporters of the law said it was meant to guarantee a quick response during active shooter situations, especially in counties that have small law enforcement agencies.
In East Tennessee, school districts like Anderson County Schools, Knox County Schools and Maryville City Schools said they did not plan to pass policies allowing educators to bring guns to school.
Soon after the law passed in the House, it became the focus of intense criticism from activists and many educators across the state. The proposal previously came up in 2023 but was shelved for a year following demonstrations calling for legislative action to prevent gun violence in the wake of a deadly school shooting in Nashville.
"I am still in shock and sickened by the legislature that thinks this is the solution to eliminate the risk of our students getting shot at," said Mary Joyce, the mother of a student killed in the Covenant shooting.
Soon after the shooting, that year's Vanderbilt Poll was released and revealed that guns were the third-most important issue according to polled voters — behind only education and the state's economy.
The poll found that 82% of respondents support strengthening background checks for gun purchases, such as what Gov. Lee proposed following the Covenant School shooting in Nashville. They also said that a majority of respondents supported a "red flag" law that would temporarily restrict gun access to people who pose a risk of harming themselves or others.
Tennessee's gun laws are ranked among some of the least restrictive in the U.S. and has a gun violence death rate of 20.9 per 100,000 people, compared to a national average of 14.4 gun violence deaths per 100,000 people, according to Everytown for Gun Safety.