Tennessee

Tennessee Senate passes bill allowing teachers to carry guns amid vocal protests

Published

3 weeks ago

April 11, 2024

Tennessee Senate passes bill allowing teachers to carry guns amid vocal protests

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee Senate Republicans passed legislation Tuesday that would allow public K-12 teachers and school staff to carry concealed handguns on school grounds — despite vocal protests from Covenant School families and others seeking stricter gun-control measures.

Senate Bill 1325 allows Tennessee school faculty or staff to carry a concealed handgun on the grounds of their school. Tennessee law already allows school resource officers, assigned through an agreement between local school districts and law enforcement, to carry firearms on campus.

The measure passed in a 26-5 vote that fell along party lines. Discussion over the bill halted as a group of around 200 gun-reform advocates voiced their opposition in the Senate gallery, holding signs and snapping their fingers in support or hissing in dissent as Senators debated the bill.

The school district’s director of schools, the school principal and the chief of the “appropriate” law enforcement agency must sign off on a staff member’s authority to carry a concealed handgun.

Tennessee state Sen. Paul Bailey sponsored the legislation and said Tuesday that a school principal could make a blanket decision not to participate and notify a director of schools they don’t want to allow any teachers to carry. But the legislation itself does not directly outline this opt-out mechanism that Bailey referred to and rather directs school administrators to consider each certification individually.

What are lawmakers saying about the bill

The measure isn’t yet law.

The House companion bill, HB 1202, technically only needs a final vote in the lower chamber after passing through committees last year. The bill is currently being “held on the desk,” a procedural term that means the bill is in a holding pattern unless someone moves to remove it from the table.

Republicans have overwhelmingly supported the bill, which was initially filed in January 2023 but has been cited as a potential school security measure in the wake of The Covenant School shooting last March. Democrats oppose the measure, which has also attracted hundreds of gun-reform protestors who oppose a GOP supermajority-led trend of expanding access to firearms in Tennessee.

Republicans argue it’s a needed security option for schools that have been unable to hire a school resource officer or more rural schools where law enforcement response might be delayed during a security crisis.

Shortly after the Covenant School shooting last year, state officials approved new funding to place a school resource officer at every public school in the state. But personnel shortages have slowed the placement, and hundreds of Tennessee schools still lack an SRO.

“We are not trying to shoot a student but protect a student from an active shooter whose sole purpose is to get in that school and kill people,” sponsor Tennessee state Sen. Ken Yager said Tuesday. “In counties like I serve, rural counties, where they may only have two deputies on a shift, it might take 20 or 30 minutes to get to that school. What havoc can be wreaked in that 30-minute period? This bill tries to fix that problem and protect children.”

Tennessee Democrats sharply criticized the bill, arguing it was “irresponsible” and could put students at risk to have guns in the classroom, open to be stolen or misused in a panicked crisis situation.

“The level of irresponsibility here is befuddling,” Tennessee state Sen. Jeff Yarbro said. “We’re sending people to a 40-hour — one week, less time than kids spend in summer camp — to learn how to handle a combat situation that veteran law enforcement officers have trouble dealing with. It is complicated, to say the least, for someone to handle a firearm accurately, responsibly, effectively with an active shooter and literally hundreds of innocent children in the area. And we’re letting people do that with a week’s training.”

Covenant mom calls Senate’s actions ‘appalling’

After repeated warnings about disruptions, Tennessee Lt. Gov. Randy McNally called for state troopers to clear the gallery. He permitted a group of mothers of Covenant School students to stay, saying they had not caused a disruption.

Beth Gebhard, whose son and daughter attend the Covenant School in Nashville, said her children were there last spring as a shooter killed three 9-year-olds and three adult staff members. She watched the Senate proceedings Tuesday with tears in her eyes, alongside several other mothers of students at the school.

She staunchly opposes the bill. She said her children, 9-year-old Ava and 12-year-old Hudson, survived the shooting because of well-trained teachers and police officers doing their job. She can’t imagine a teacher having to also deal with confronting a shooter, especially one armed with an assault-style rifle.

“A handgun will do nothing against that,” she said. “If what had happened on March 27 had gone down the way that it did with a teacher armed with a handgun attempting to put the perpetrator out, my children would likely be dead.”

She called the lawmakers “cowardly” for clearing the gallery.

“If they are supposed to be representative of our voice and they are dismissing these people … they are not for us and it is appalling,” she said, holding back tears. “It’s so upsetting. It makes me want to move.”

Melissa Alexander and Mary Joyce, both mothers of students who attend Covenant, huddled with Gebhard after the vote. A Capitol building staff member who spotted the trio brought by a box of tissues, earning grateful smiles.

“As mothers of survivors, all we can do is continue to show up and keep sharing our stories and hope that eventually they will listen to them and take our advice,” Alexander said. “We have real experiences in these tragedies. We are the ones who have been there, experienced this and lived through the aftermath of it.”

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Tennessee

Rick Barnes on the transfer portal era of college basketball: 'Expect the unexpected'

Published

7 hours ago

May 3, 2024

Press Room

Rick Barnes on the transfer portal era of college basketball: 'Expect the unexpected'

Tennessee Basketball Coach Rick Barnes Talks On The Big Orange Caravan

Rick Barnes started his media availability Tuesday night at Tennessee’s Big Orange Caravan stop in Nashville with an understatement. When asked about the last month for the Vols, he described it as “eventful.”

“Because of where we are today and with everything,” Barnes said.

He was referencing the NCAA Transfer Portal and the chaos it creates across all of college athletics. It just so happens that Tennessee Basketball was hit hard with changes this time around.

On top of losing three fifth-year seniors — Dalton Knecht, Josiah-Jordan James and Santiago Vescovi — the Vols lost four players to the transfer portal, leaving six of the 13 scholarships open for next season.

The first move was redshirt freshman guard Freddie Dilione on April 4, four days after the season ended with the Elite Eight loss to Purdue. Redshirt freshman wing DJ Jefferson was next, on April 8, starting a run of three departures in three days. Sophomore power forward Tobe Awaka left the next day, followed by junior center Jonas Aidoo.

Tennessee has added three players from the NCAA Transfer Portal

Tennessee has since added three transfers from the portal. First was Hofstra wing Darlinstone Dubar, followed by 6-foot-11 Ohio State center Felix Okpara and 6-foot-10 Charlotte forward Igor Milicic Jr.

The Vols still have three open scholarship spots on next season’s roster, with the three transfer additions joined by four-star point guard Bishop Boswell, the Charlotte, N.C., prep prospect who signed in November.

“We do think we’re getting closer,” Barnes said Tuesday of completing the new-look roster. “But we’ve been very selective. My coaches, (I) have a great deal of credit for their intel in terms of how they’ve gone about it, knowing what we would like and what we think works for us. And we’re really excited about the ones that we’ve gotten.”

On Wednesday, during the Big Orange Caravan stop in Chattanooga, Barnes was asked again about the transfer portal era of college athletics.

In college basketball specifically, with one transfer portal window for players, the moves are constant in April, before the portal closes on May 1. As soon as one March Madness is over, the next month-long madness kicks in.

“It is because when you come out of the season and you realize what lies ahead,” Barnes said. “It’s the anticipation of knowing that you really come to expect the unexpected and until that final day where the portal closes, you don’t know what’s going to happen.

“Because we realize there’s a lot of people coming at these athletes in different ways. With that said, it’s maybe the most stressful time of the year not knowing what’s going to happen.”

Rick Barnes: ‘When it breaks, you got to be ready to try and improve yourself’

Tennessee’s outgoing players have all landed at new schools. Dilione signed with Penn State, Jefferson went to Longwood and Awaka is now at Arizona. But it was Aidoo — he committed to and signed with Arkansas on Monday — who caught the Vols off guard.

Barnes two weeks ago described losing his All-SEC center, who had a breakout junior season, as an unexpected change of course.

“Because he had told everybody he was fine,” Barnes said at the time.

Now, all Barnes can do is adapt to the game’s move toward free agency and make his own moves.

“We’re already expecting the unexpected,” Barnes said. “So we’re working it in the right way in terms of you’re always hearing this or that. You try to stay ahead of everything as much as you can, but the fact is when it breaks, you got to be ready to try and improve yourself.”

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Tennessee State guard Zyion Shannon transfers to Arkansas State women’s basketball

Published

13 hours ago

May 3, 2024

Press Room

Tennessee State guard Zyion Shannon transfers to Arkansas State women’s basketball

JONESBORO, Ark. (KAIT) – Arkansas State women’s basketball continues to assemble their 2024-25 roster.

The Red Wolves signed Tennessee State sophomore guard Zyion Shannon. She averaged 10 points, 2 rebounds, and 1 assist per game in the 2023-24 season. Shannon led the team with 24 three-pointers made, she also had 44 assists and 41 steals. The Tennessee native will have two seasons of eligiblity.

“We are so excited to add Zy to our roster,” Red Wolves head coach Destinee Rogers said in a statement. “She is a 5′10 versatile guard that can score on all three levels. She will make an immediate impact. We can’t wait to get her on campus!”

Shannon is the 2nd addition to the Red Wolves roster this offseason. Former Daytona State guard Bella Weary signed with A-State in April.

Arkansas State Women’s Basketball Roster 2024-25

Newcomers

G Zyion Shannon (Tennessee State)

G Bella Weary (Daytona State)

Returners

G/F Anna Griffin

G Wynter Rogers

G Crislyn Rose

G Jordan Clark

In Transfer Portal

F Kendra Gillespie

F/C Cheyenne Forney

Departures

G Izzy Higginbottom (Arkansas)

F Emma Imevbore (Troy)

G Bre Sutton (McNeese State)

F Kiayra Ellis (McNeese State)

G Mailyn Wilkerson (Alabama A&M)

G Lauryn Pendleton (Alabama A&M)

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Tennessee Baseball Prepares To Take on Florida Gators

Published

20 hours ago

May 2, 2024

Press Room

Tennessee Baseball Prepares To Take on Florida Gators

The Tennessee Volunteers take on the Florida Gators in SEC play during a three-game series this weekend.

The Vols are headed to The Swamp to take on SEC rival Florida Gators in a three-game series from Thursday to Saturday. They are coming from a loss to Lipscomb, ending a six-game winning streak. The Vols are looking to get back on track against the Gators, who currently sit in sixth place in the SEC East.

Tennessee is coming off six straight conference series wins, while Florida enters the series after going winless in all four of their series in April. Despite having a less-than-favorable record, Florida has found success when playing in Gainesville, holding a home record of 16-9. On the other hand, the Vols have only traveled nine times this year, holding an away record of 5-4.

Tennessee got the best of the Gators in their last trip to Gainesville, sweeping Florida back in 2022. Chris Stamos is taking the mound to kick off this year’s series is Chris Stamos, coming in with a 2.98 ERA on the season after pitching 2.2 scoreless innings during the Vols’ win over Missouri on April 25. In return, the Gators bring in lefty pitcher Pierce Coppola, having pitched three games in 2024 while holding a 10.50 ERA. The first pitch is set to take place at 7:00 pm.

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