NASHVILLE – A House panel on Wednesday approved a bill allowing all Tennessee school districts to designate teachers trained by private firms to carry firearms despite objections from parents, teachers, a gun-reform group and Haslam administration officials who warned it might backfire.
The party-line 5-2 vote in the Civil Justice Subcommittee came in the midst of a national debate about school safety after the school shooting in Parkland, Fla., that left 17 students and teachers dead.
Panel chairman Mike Carter, R-Ooltewah, voted for the measure, arguing that because the state isn’t adequately funding school resource officers – law enforcement officers who receive special additional training to protect schools – “are we not directing nuts to the least-covered areas?”
He said only about 40 percent of school systems statewide are covered and only about 34 percent of the schools in Hamilton County. Those not covered in Hamilton County include a number of elementary schools, Carter said.
“The SRO program is what we all want,” he said. “That’s a message to every department and specifically to the administration. We need to talk seriously about getting funded.”