Jacob Francy, '26
Tuesday, April 23, the Tennessee State House of Representatives voted in favor of a new bill that will allow any public school teacher to carry a handgun while in the school building. Later on the 27th, Governor Bill Lee signed it into law. The plan to supposedly “keep kids safer” has received backlash from tens of thousands of Tennesseeans already, most notably teachers and students. Does this bill actually make us safer?
Republicans who sponsored this bill claim that the legislation intends to create a way for more people to defend against school intruders. Although it does increase the amount of people who could fight off a shooter, is it really going to help or make us, in general, safer?
On June 1, 2023, a study by the RAND Corporation announced that only 18.3% of teachers were in favor of becoming armed, which showed the disproportionate amount of disapproval for the law by the actual subjects of the bill: teachers. According to many disagreeing educators, they believe arming teachers would make the classroom unsafe. For instance, there have been cases before the bill was even introduced highlighting how easily a situation can become unhinged. Recently, a preschool teacher in Nashville was arrested after she threatened to “shoot up” the school and to kill her other coworkers. Another reason this law is very unpopular among educators is the fact it adds to the job description. Teachers are already massively overworked for their jobs with an average of 53 hours per week (7 hours more than the national average) while also being tremendously underpaid. On average in Tennessee, the average teacher salary is around $50,000 yearly. Adding on the duty of being school security doesn’t only add the liability of students harming themselves, but it requires teachers to put more work into something that wasn’t even a part of their original job description.
I talked to teachers here at Ensworth about this legislation. Here was their responses:
Mrs. Thomas: Personally, I do not think allowing teachers to carry concealed weapons is the way to address safety concerns and prevent mass shootings in schools. I think that having more weapons in schools increases the chance for someone getting hurt. I believe that trained professional police and/or security are the only people who should be able to carry weapons on school campuses. I know that part of the problem in our state is that rural counties especially do not have SRO officers. While some of this is due to school funding, it is also due to the lack of interest in the job. I think that one way our legislature could address the issue of school safety is by giving funding for SRO officers in schools and/or making those jobs desirable through training and pay increases. While this would not address the heart of the issue, it would be preferable to having teachers armed.
Mrs. Berry: This new legislation concerns me for several reasons, but the primary one is that teachers need to focus their full attention on teaching the students in front of them in order to be effective at their jobs. It may not seem like it, but this is actually a pretty complicated task--every student in a classroom has different academic, emotional, and energetic needs that all have to be met at the same time to ensure the classroom is a productive, or at the very least, a safe space. Statistics from the 90s suggest that teachers on average have to make 15,000 decisions in a normal class day--decisions that require critical thinking and prioritization, that may be big or small, and that will determine if a student, a group of students, or all of the students are successful. The more decisions there are, and the more complicated those decisions, the more exhausting they are to make, and the more the quality of future decisions goes down. Introduce a firearm into the mix, and now the top priority isn't student success, but simply safety around that firearm. Carrying a weapon that can harm or kill others is a huge responsibility, and one that no one should take lightly no matter how comfortable or skilled they are with that tool. Any cognitive capacity teachers have to allocate away from students is going to impact their teaching ability; it's the students who ultimately pay the cost. I'm grateful that at Ensworth, I can focus on the job I do best because our amazing security team is focusing on what they do best.
Mrs. Bradshaw: School security and safety are absolutely top priorities for me. I have changed my mind since Columbine, and I now support the use of armed security guards in schools at this point in America. I am disappointed and surprised that 47 years of a career in K-12 education have led to a legislative discussion resulting in legally arming teachers.
Twenty-five years ago the SRO (School Resource Officer) at the school where I was employed (not Ensworth) asked me if I would consider being on a team of armed teachers if he could get it worked out. While I appreciated his confidence in me, I considered the idea then and declined. Thankfully that never came to fruition. This idea of arming teachers is not a new idea, but the scope of a state law sanctioning that option is far more concerning to me than a single SRO with an idea. Arming teachers as public policy because districts or schools can't afford security guards does not appeal to me. Find the money. I imagine that professions that require weapons attract people who want to carry a weapon. I did not enter the teaching profession so I might need to carry a gun some day. While I have owned a gun for about 35 years, I did not make the purchase as a work related item. I am certain that adding "carry weapon" to the list of teacher requirements or certification is risky business. The 40 hours of training required for my teacher colleagues to carry a weapon in school in Tennessee makes me feel less safe. That is not the culture I want to experience everyday. As a veteran educator with experience in independent, public, magnet, overseas international, and charter schools, I have had way too much to think about to add the responsibility of carrying a concealed weapon. Arming teachers to keep students safe is short sighted and does not serve the public good. The possibilities of negative outcomes such as a teacher leaving students unattended to chase a shooter, or a SWAT team entering the building and mistakenly shooting the armed teacher because the armed teachers will be unidentified, or someone taking the gun from a teacher, or a teacher who has a mental breakdown having access to a gun in school all lead to possible tragedies that would occur only if teachers are carrying concealed weapons. Saving money by arming teachers is not the path that I would choose to provide safer schools, nor is it the path that I support. Let the police and armed security guards do their jobs to keep schools safe. Let teachers teach.
Ryan Peters: Deciding whether teachers should carry firearms in the classroom is a weighty matter that demands careful consideration. It’s not just about having a gun; it’s about the broader context within the school environment. This includes assessing whether the administration is fully committed to supporting such a decision. By support, I mean not just providing tactical training, but also ensuring teachers receive the necessary emotional and decision-making preparation that comes with carrying a firearm. Financial considerations are also crucial. Will the administration cover the costs of training, insurance, and ongoing mental and tactical support? Also, what specifications are in place for emotional support, both before and after a potential shooting incident? Preparing to take a life is a difficult task, and teachers must be adequately supported to navigate such challenges while remaining emotionally and mentally present for their students. Law enforcement officers undergo rigorous training to be constantly prepared for life-threatening situations. The OODA (observe, orient, decide, action) Loop encapsulates the intricate process by which the human mind perceives and responds to stimuli. Initially, one observes their environment, relying on sensory input. Subsequently, they orient themselves by contextualizing this information with their stored knowledge, encompassing both positive and negative experiences, as well as genetic predispositions. Having processed this data, one reaches a conclusion about their situation and must then decide upon a course of action. The culmination of this process lies in the execution of a physical response. Success in navigating the OODA loop hinges on the effectiveness of this action, often enabling individuals to outpace their adversaries by swiftly cycling through subsequent loops, ultimately leading to triumph. However, expecting teachers to seamlessly transition from delivering a lecture to confronting an assailant is unrealistic. Their OODA loop would understandably take longer, potentially compromising response time.
If a school lacks armed officers and teachers are the only viable option, extensive support and resources are imperative. Just as law enforcement officers undergo mental preparation to make split-second decisions, teachers would require similar training to confront various potential scenarios, including the sobering possibility of neutralizing a colleague or former student. While I don’t outright oppose teachers carrying firearms, I don’t readily endorse it either. If a school can afford trained professionals for security, that would be the preferable option. However, financial constraints may render this impractical. In such cases, rigorous training becomes paramount, with an emphasis on continuous improvement and readiness. The decision to arm teachers should not be taken lightly. It necessitates a comprehensive approach that addresses training, emotional support, and financial considerations. While it may be a viable option in certain circumstances, it should be pursued with caution and a commitment to ensuring the safety and well-being of all individuals within the school community.
I even got a chance to talk to our Head of High School, Mr. Hesse, on the bill. We chatted firstly about what the bill entails. He brought up many important points about how the bill required a background check, a mental check, 60 hours of training, and had to be approved by the superintendent. “But, I still think it’s a bad idea,” he told me. Mr. Hesse, a gun owner himself, has grown up with firearms his whole life. He hunts birds like “turkey and quail” with “a .22 shotgun”, and he also owns a handgun “if, God forbid, we are put in such a situation.” While Mr. Hesse is certainly in favor of keeping guns in America, his concern lies with putting everything on the teacher. “Teachers can’t be expected to teach and act as security at all at once.” His explanation included many situations where the educator is “in teacher mode” and that it would be dangerous for the acting security to not always be thinking about safety. “I want the security of my school to always be thinking about it. Teachers are busy teaching the students,” he explains further, “I don’t want security to have 60 hours of training. I want them to have hundreds and hundreds of hours of training.” Mr. Hesse also brought up the fact that, “teachers don’t even have the time for the job.” He told me again, “I like guns, I enjoy shooting. But, this is a bad idea.”
In 2023, 1,682 children were killed, and 4,512 were injured by firearms. Gun violence is the #1 killer of children in the United States, and even with this knowledge, the state legislators decided to fight fire with fire. Adding more guns to try to “solve” gun violence is extremely counter-productive. This is expected by the Gun Violence Archive to produce almost twice the chance of a school shooting. According to Everytown, 91% of school shooters are students or former students of that school, so why would legislators let the potential shooters closer to the firearms? Another argument brought up by teachers was concern for their own safety. If police were to enter the school and see a person with a firearm, their first instinct would be to shoot the figure. That could easily be an innocent teacher trying to actively help and execute their training, firearm in hand. How are police officers supposed to know the difference between teachers and the shooter?
Tennessee has often been a leader in national headlines for controversial laws like these (abortion ban, drag ban, lowering gun age to 18, allowing permitless open carry), and now Tennessee is receiving backlash for their unfortunate situation. The only solution to be fully represented as a state is to vote. Tennessee is ranked the WORST state for voter turnout, which then leads to legislation like this. If you are 18 or older, live in this state, and want the safety of our students and citizens, vote. Your vote could be the difference.