Tennessee allows teachers to have guns in classrooms

Armed teachers: the Tennessee state legislature American South, adopted yesterday Tuesday a law proposal that provides that teachersprincipals and other school personnel will be allowed to carry personal weapons one year after a school shooting.

Today, about fifteen American states allow the carrying of weapons by school personnel, which, however, is at the discretion of the educational authorities, against the background of the proliferation of bloody violent incidents with the use weapons within schools and universities in recent years.

The law, passed by the Tennessee House of Representatives yesterday, was approved by the state Senate earlier this month. It remains to be ratified by the state’s governor, Bill Lee, who has already said he is “open” to the idea.

The law lays down conditions: members of the training staff who wish to carry weapons must, among other things, first undergo 40 hours of “basic law enforcement training” schools».

In March 2023, a gunman opened fire inside a Nashville Christian elementary school, killing three students, aged nine, and three staff members, before being shot dead by police.

Tennessee’s legislature is dominated by Republicans, the right-wing party that includes the most passionate defenders of gun rights.

Two Democratic lawmakers were expelled from the chamber last year for taking part in a demonstration on the House floor demanding stricter gun control after the Nashville school shooting.

Massacres in American schools are chillingly common, but federal authorities have little room for maneuver on the matter: each state makes its own laws.