Tennessee

Tennessee considers arming teachers: Do other states allow them to carry guns on campus?

Published

2 weeks ago

April 18, 2024

Press Room

Tennessee considers arming teachers: Do other states allow them to carry guns on campus?

More than half of all states have some type of law allowing teachers and other school employees to carry guns on campus.

Tennessee lawmakers are considering a controversial bill that would allow some teachers to go armed in classrooms in the wake of Nashville’s Covenant School shooting last year that killed six people, including three children.

The bill passed in the Senate and now awaits action in the House, despite vocal protests from Democrats, students and parents.

In a nation plagued with deadly school shootings, here is a closer look at laws in other states for guns in schools.

Which states allow teachers to carry firearms on school grounds?

More than half of all states have some type of law allowing teachers and other school employees to carry concealed guns on campus, according to data compiled by the Giffords Law Center.

Iowa is the most recent state to push for more guns, with lawmakers this week sending a bill to the governor that would allow teachers and other school employees to obtain permits to carry guns on school grounds.

Just 16 states and the District of Columbia have laws specifically prohibiting teachers from carrying guns – Alabama, California, Delaware, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

Most states, including Tennessee, allow non-law enforcement school security to carry guns on campus, and of the states that allow teachers and other school employees to carry guns, many require permission from the school district.

Spotlight on teacher gun laws

California, a state with some of the nation’s strictest gun laws, allows non-law enforcement to carry guns without needing permission from the school district, but it prohibits teachers and other school employees.

Texas, Florida, Arizona, Mississippi and South Dakota allow teachers and other employees to carry if they are designated school guardians or part of a program.

Tennessee and Arkansas prohibit teachers in public schools from carrying guns but allow exemptions for private schools.

Six states – Delaware, Nebraska, North Carolina, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Maine – prohibit guns for non-law enforcement school security, teachers and other staff.

What do schools allow for the general public?

Most states prohibit members of the general public from carrying guns on campus, but a handful – Kansas Michigan Mississippi New Hampshire Oregon Utah and Wyoming – allow the guns if the individual has a concealed carry permit.

Just over half of all states, including Tennessee, allow people with concealed carry permits to keep loaded, unlocked guns in their cars on campus.

How would Tennessee’s law arming teachers work?

Tennessee’s law would allow facilities or staff to carry concealed guns on their respective campuses. The state already allows non-law enforcement school security to carry.

The individual would have to get permission from the district and a law enforcement agency. The district would not be required to notify parents if a gun is in their child’s classroom.

A teacher would have to follow these additional requirements:

Have a valid handgun carry permit
Undergo a background check
Complete 40 hours of additional training
Pass a psychological evaluation

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Tennessee

Tennessee should make marijuana legal after feds downgrade marijuana to Schedule III drug

Published

4 hours ago

May 1, 2024

Press Room

Tennessee should make marijuana legal after feds downgrade marijuana to Schedule III drug

Lawmakers should ask their constituents what they think and then in their 2025 session start working on allowing broader access to cannabis for all Tennesseans.

David Plazas is the director of opinion and engagement for the USA TODAY Network Tennessee.

In 2015, former state Rep. Sheila Butt, now mayor of Maury County, openly talked about how cannabis oil versus traditional medication would help her sister, who suffered from seizures.

East Tennessee Rep. Jeremy Faison famously posted a photo of himself at a marijuana grow room during a 2016 visit to Colorado to learn more about medicinal uses for the plant.

Beth Harwell, the former Tennessee Speaker of the House, campaigned for governor in 2018 on a promise to make marijuana legal in the Volunteer State.

Ex state Sen. Steve Dickerson, a physician, advocated for alternative forms of medicine including cannabis in a 2020 guest opinion column in The Tennessean.

They all happen to be Republicans in a state with a GOP-dominated legislature. Faison is now in a leadership position as House GOP Caucus chair, but in 2015, he said: “For close to a decade we demonized a plant. We are in the early stages in America and in Tennessee in understanding there may be some benefits in this plant.”

While he is not quite so vocal about this subject as he used to be, now that the federal government is looking to change rules downgrading marijuana from a Schedule I to Schedule III drug, Faison and his colleagues should start back on a path toward broader legalization in Tennessee.

Cannabis production and sales are limited in Tennessee

The change, if approved after a public comment process, would no longer classify marijuana as among the “most dangerous and addictive substances,” according to a USA TODAY report.

Twenty-four of 50 states have legalized marijuana for recreational use and another 14 only allow it for medicinal use, according to Pew Research Center. That means the vast majority of Americans – 74% – live in a state where there is some form of broad legalization.

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Tennessee is not one of them and what is permissible is limited.

There are cannabis-derived products, such as, oils, ointments and gummies, which are allowed to be sold in the state, including CBD, or cannabidiol, and Delta-8. In 2022, Buds & Brews became Tennessee’s first legal restaurant to serve cannabis-infused condiments and beverages.

In addition, the state allows for the legal cultivation of hemp that contains less than 0.3% of THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychotropic part of the plant. Anything beyond 0.3% is forbidden and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s official statement on its website says: “TBI is opposed to the legalization of marijuana in any form outside of the FDA and DEA approval process utilized for all other forms of medicine.”

Yet, in a state suffering an opioid abuse and death epidemic and with federal rules likely changing, it is time to change the law in Tennessee starting with broader access to medicinal care.

In his guest opinion column, Dickerson, the medical doctor and former state senator, addressed concerns that legalized marijuana could be a “gateway” drug for addiction and he responded this way: “Like any medical treatment, this is a concern that must be taken seriously. However, research clearly shows that cannabis dependency occurs in a tiny percentage of patients, and it is far safer than other types of painkillers. With proper care and supervision, the benefits of medical cannabis far outweigh these concerns.”

Americans show record support for legalizing pot

More than a decade ago, the Obama Administration stopped prosecuting people for possessing medicinal marijuana.

Congress has limited the Department of Justice’s ability to go after people in states that have legalized marijuana, according to a 2022 Congressional Research Service report.

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President Joe Biden has pardoned thousands of Americans convicted on federal counts of simple possession of marijuana.

Today, as fentanyl and other synthetic drugs are public health and criminal justice threats, legalizing marijuana could help people in pain, farmers, and state budgets at a time when revenues are flat or falling. Non-violent people would stay out of jail.

National Geographic wrote in its “Inside Marijuana” that cannabis is among the largest cash crops in the nation and the legal pot trade is outpacing the wine industry in California.

There are important concerns about potential addiction in some cases and about whether heavy state regulations create a disincentive for growers, leading people to get their recreational pot in the underground economy, thus, defeating the purpose for a legal framework.

However, popular opinion is very much in favor of legalization. The polling and public sentiment research service Gallup showed that Americans’ support for legalized marijuana grew from 12% in 1969 to a record 70% in 2023.

Lawmakers should ask their constituents what they think and then in their 2025 session start working on allowing broader access to cannabis for all Tennesseans.

David Plazas is the director of opinion and engagement for the USA TODAY Network Tennessee. He is an editorial board member of The Tennessean. He hosts the Tennessee Voices videocast and curates the Tennessee Voices and Latino Tennessee Voices newsletters. Call him at (615) 259-8063, email him at dplazas@tennessean.com or tweet to him at @davidplazas.

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Tennessee

Tennessee hiker drowns trying to save woman who fell into creek; rescuers recover both bodies

Published

11 hours ago

May 1, 2024

Press Room

Tennessee hiker drowns trying to save woman who fell into creek; rescuers recover both bodies

A 23-year-old woman and 20-year-old man drowned near a hiking trail in Tennessee on Sunday after the woman fell into a creek and the man jumped in to try and save her, authorities said.

Police responded around 7:13 p.m. to a 911 call about the pair going underwater near Rainbow Lake Trail in Signal Mountain, the Signal Mountain Police Department said.

First responders hiked about a mile down the trail when they encountered a woman waiting for them to arrive.

The woman told officials that she was with a group of three to four people who hiked on the trail to a large creek.

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The man and woman were part of a small group hiking the Rainbow Lake Trail. (Hamilton County Office of Emergency Management & Homeland Security)

One woman tried to cross the creek but fell into a “drop off” and went underwater, according to authorities. A man from their group then jumped in after her, but the pair never resurfaced.

Police and fire personnel jumped into the water to find and rescue both victims, the department said.

The woman fell into a “drop off” and went underwater, police said. The man jumped in after her but also disappeared beneath the water. (Hamilton County Office of Emergency Management & Homeland Security)

Rescuers found the woman in the water and pulled her onto land. They performed life-saving measures on the woman, but she was pronounced dead at the scene.

Officials requested additional assistance while searching for the missing man. His body was eventually recovered from the water.

CALIFORNIA MAN FALLS 300 FEET TO DEATH WHILE HIKING WITH WIFE ALONG OREGON COAST

First responders recovered the bodies of both victims. (Hamilton County Office of Emergency Management & Homeland Security)

Police later identified the woman as 23-year-old Greffania Merilus, of Cohutta, Gerogia, and the man as 20-year-old Gullson Elve, of Birchwood, Tennessee, News Channel 9 reported.

Officials told the station that the pair were “really close friends.”

Following the two deaths, Signal Mountain Town Council Member Susannah Murdock told Local 3 News that she is calling for additional signage along the trail to warn hikers about potential dangers in the area.

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“We got this pretty sign up here that says Rainbow Lake, and it’s a beautiful place down there, but they don’t know the terrain is rocky and bumpy and can be steep in places,” Murdock said. “When we’ve had a lot of rain, there’s water that flows down there pretty rapidly.”

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