State lawmakers consider arming teachers, school staff

JACKSON, Tenn. — State lawmakers consider allowing teachers and staff to carry guns at schools in Tennessee. Parents have mixed opinions about it.

“No ma’am,” Christopher Boyd, a parent, said. “That should never happen.”

Mary Garner, a parent, said it would make her feel safer. “The teacher could defend them against an intruder,” she said.

The proposal leaves the decision up to school districts. “Guns are too dangerous,” Boyd said. “Teachers are just as crazy. You never know what they might do.”

The legislation follows several recent deadly shootings across the country. “If the teachers had guns there, they could have prevented a lot of deaths and injuries,” Sherry Love said.

“I think if more were looked into health care and mental illness and stuff of that nature, I think that would prove more of an effort to try to solve the issue,” Quincy Hawkins, a Jackson resident, said.

The proposal requires teachers to complete at least 40 hours of handgun instruction taught by a local law enforcement agency or a private certified firearms instructor.

“Proper training, you know, for the teachers, I think it’d be a good thing,” Garner said.

If approved, participants would also have to complete 16 hours of continuing education every year.

State lawmakers are expected to take up the issue again next week.