We had a new experience yesterday. Joel and I were sitting in the corner of the Gallery of the House chamber when the bill about arming school personnel [and PLEASE, it is NOT just about teachers, but using that term plays well with the opponents] was brought up. Sixteen amendments were proposed and debated. Fourteen were defeated and two were withdrawn.
When the debate on the bill started, so did the misbehavior of those in the gallery on both sides of the floor. As it continued, some of the misbehavior took place on the House floor.
Rep. Justin Jones was reprimanded a number of times.
It kept escalating until the people were screaming at the legislators on the floor, chanting “Blood on your head”. Spearker Sexton finally ordered the galleries cleared. I protested to the trooper, saying that we had been sitting in the corner being quiet. He said he understood, but the gallery had to be completely cleared.
We were moved out with the others!!
Once out of the galleries, the protesters stood in the Rotunda screaming, blocking others from moving around in the area, etc., lots of troopers were trying to keep some kind of order.
Then came the ‘die-in” where folks were “dying” all over the floor.
A little later, when I was leaving the Senate gallery, a man yelled at me saying that he hoped I burned in He//.
Legislature OKs permitting armed teachers in Tennessee schools
by: Erin McCullough
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — After hours of tense debate and impassioned cries, the Tennessee General Assembly gave the final OK for teachers to carry in K-12 schools in Tennessee, prompting fierce outcry from the gallery.
Lawmakers and advocates alike debated the issue for over two hours, with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle arguing why the measure was or was not necessary before ultimately passing the bill.
Read the latest from the TN State Capitol Newsroom
The bill, brought by Cookeville Republican Ryan Williams, would permit teachers to carry concealed handguns on campus if they meet certain requirements.
Among the necessary requirements are a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between local law enforcement, the school district and the particular school principal. Unless those three entities come to an understanding on allowing faculty and staff to carry on school grounds during school hours, nothing else can happen.
If the three agree to an MOU, then teachers and staff members in that specific school would be required to meet more requirements:
- Submit to a background check
- Pass a psychological evaluation
- Receive 40 hours of firearms training
- Submit their fingerprints
Where some educators may fall short is the psychological evaluation, which Williams said was previously a hiccup to teachers wanting to go armed in schools.
Tennessee Republicans Send Bill Allowing Teachers to Carry Guns to Gov. Bill Lee
Protesting students and parents have warned that allowing guns in schools will make shootings more likely
Republicans in the Tennessee House of Representatives gave final approval Tuesday to a bill allowing teachers and school staff to carry guns after meeting certain requirements and getting the approval of local education and law enforcement officials. All that’s needed now is Gov. Bill Lee’s signature. The bill comes a year after three children and three adults were killed in the Covenant School shooting in Nashville. The proposal has attracted continual protest from Covenant School families and gun control advocates, as well as vociferous opposition from Democrats in the legislature.
After some debate, Republicans approved a motion to cut off discussion. The bill passed with 68 votes in favor, 28 opposed and two representatives voting “present.” As the vote was being taken and the results were being read, opponents in the gallery began screaming and chanting, bringing the House session to a halt. Republicans voted to declare Nashville Democratic Rep. Justin Jones out of order for filming on the House floor in violation of the chamber’s rules. He was later declared out of order two more times for continuing to record on the floor.
As House Speaker Cameron Sexton sorted through competing motions from Democrats and Republicans to declare each other out of order, people watching from the gallery continued to chant “vote them out!”
The bill’s lead sponsor, Republican Rep. Ryan Williams of Cookeville, repeatedly emphasized the “high bar” required for any teacher or school staff member to carry a gun and said he expects a miniscule number of Tennessee educators to clear it.
The would-be law — sponsored by Williams and Sen. Paul Bailey of Sparta — requires any teacher or school staff member to undergo 40 hours of training and get the approval of local law enforcement, the local school superintendent and the school’s principal before carrying a gun on campus. Before going armed, teachers or school staff would also have to pass a mental health evaluation and background check. Tennessee would not be an outlier in allowing such a policy. More than half of states have a law that gives schools the ability to grant permission for certain people to carry a gun on campus, according to the Giffords Law Center.
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Adalie Phillips, 6, urges representatives to vote against HB1202 before the start of the House session on Tuesday, April 23, 2024. Credit: Martin B. Cherry / Nashville Banner
Still, polling in recent years by the Vanderbilt Center for Child Health Policy found fewer than 40 percent of Tennessee parents polled believed schools would be safer if teachers were armed.
An especially controversial provision in the bill would keep parents from knowing whether their child’s teacher is carrying a gun in the classroom. An amendment offered by Nashville Democratic Rep. Jason Powell on the House floor Tuesday would have required parents be notified. It was rejected by the Republican majority. Republicans also voted down a proposed amendment from Nashville Democratic Rep. Bo Mitchell that would have exempted Davidson County from the legislation.
The bill’s Republican supporters have framed it as a way to deter possible school shooters — by making them uncertain whether they might face armed resistance inside a school — and to add a layer of protection for students and school staff who might otherwise be forced to wait on the arrival of law enforcement. Opponents, however, have stressed how difficult it is for even trained police officers to respond in an active shooter event and to fire their guns accurately. Introducing guns into schools, they’ve argued, only increases the chances of accidental shootings or physical confrontations that lead to gunfire. Democrats also repeatedly conjured the image of a school teacher armed with a handgun confronting a school shooter carrying an AR-15 and, possibly, other weapons.
“Teachers are already doing four jobs and they’re paid poorly for one,” said Knoxville Democratic Rep. Gloria Johnson, who spoke against the bill. She also noted that there were armed staffers at the Covenant School when the fatal shooting happened in March last year.
Metro Nashville Public Schools officials have indicated they would not be inclined to approve of a teacher or school employee carrying a gun on campus. MNPS spokesperson Sean Braisted told the Banner in a written statement earlier this month that “we agree that it is best and safest for only approved active-duty law enforcement to carry weapons on campus, which has been our consistent practice at MNPS.”
The Metro Nashville Police Department has declined to comment on the legislation as it moved through the legislature. MNPD spokesperson Don Aaron told the Banner that Nashville public middle and high schools have at least one SRO [school resource officer] and that they “have a Rapid School Safety Team of officers who can quickly get to a campus as necessary.”
PROVIDING PROTECTION AT SCHOOL:
SB 1325 by *Bailey , Hensley, Stevens – HB 1202 by *Williams , CAPLEY, WRIGHT, REEDY, BUTLER, TODD, CEPICKY, BULSO, HICKS T, ELDRIDGE, KEISLING, COCHRAN, POWERS
Teachers, Principals and School Personnel – As introduced, authorizes a faculty or staff member of a school to carry a concealed handgun on school grounds subject to certain conditions, including obtaining an enhanced handgun carry permit and completing annual training.
HOUSE VOTE:
SB1325 by Bailey – FLOOR VOTE: REGULAR CALENDAR PASSAGE ON THIRD CONSIDERATION 4/23/2024
Passed
Ayes………………………………………..68
Noes………………………………………..28
Present and not voting……………….2
Representatives voting aye were: Alexander, Barrett, Boyd, Bricken, Bulso, Burkhart, Butler, Capley, Carr, Carringer, Cepicky, Cochran, Crawford, Darby, Davis, Eldridge, Faison, Farmer, Fritts, Gant, Garrett, Grills, Hale, Hawk, Hazlewood, Helton-Haynes, Hicks G, Hicks T, Hill, Holsclaw, Howell, Hulsey, Hurt, Johnson C, Kumar, Lafferty, Lamberth, Leatherwood, Littleton, Lynn, Marsh, Martin B, Martin G, McCalmon, Moody, Moon, Powers, Ragan, Reedy, Richey, Rudd, Rudder, Russell, Sherrell, Slater, Sparks, Stevens, Terry, Todd, Travis, Vaughan, Vital, Warner, White, Williams, Wright, Zachary, Mr. Speaker Sexton — 68.
Representatives voting no were: Baum, Behn, Camper, Chism, Clemmons, Dixie, Freeman, Gillespie, Glynn, Hakeem, Hardaway, Harris, Hemmer, Jernigan, Johnson G, Jones, Love, McKenzie, Miller, Mitchell, Parkinson, Pearson, Powell, Raper, Shaw, Thompson, Towns, Whitson — 28.
Representatives present and not voting were: Doggett, Haston — 2.
SENATE VOTE:
SB1325 by Bailey – FLOOR VOTE: as Amended Third Consideration 4/9/2024
Passed
Ayes………………………………………..26
Noes…………………………………………5
Present and not voting……………….1
Senators voting aye were: Bailey, Bowling, Briggs, Crowe, Gardenhire, Haile, Hensley, Jackson, Johnson, Lowe, Lundberg, Massey, Niceley, Pody, Powers, Reeves, Roberts, Rose, Southerland, Stevens, Taylor, Walley, Watson, White, Yager, Mr. Speaker McNally — 26.
Senators voting no were: Akbari, Campbell, Lamar, Oliver, Yarbro — 5.
Senators present and not voting were: Swann — 1.
The Empires Begin to Strike Back
Cal Thomas | Apr 23, 2024
With all that is occurring in our political and cultural life, there are signs some Americans have had enough.
Google recently fired 28 employees from its New York and Sunnyvale, California, offices for protesting the company’s cloud-computing contract with Israel. The reason given by the company’s vice president for global security, Chris Rackow, as reported in The Wall Street Journal, was that the sacked employees “took over office spaces, defaced our property and physically impeded the work of other Googlers,” violating company policies. They apparently aren’t familiar with this sage advice: don’t bite the hand that feeds you.
Another optimistic sign. Columbia University decided they had enough of protesters disrupting the campus and shouting antisemitic, anti-Israel and pro-Hamas slogans. Police were called and arrested 108 protesters who had set up shanty-like tent camps on school property. Columbia President Minouche Shafik said the occupiers posed a “clear and present danger to the substantial functioning of the University.” After those arrests, more people joined the demonstrators, keeping students from attending class. All should be arrested and the violent and antisemitic ones expelled.
The definition of “student” ought to bring some humility to these don’t-know-it-alls: “a person formally engaged in learning.” For too long and in too many places – and not only on many college campuses – adults have ceded their leadership responsibilities to teenagers and twenty-somethings, too many of whom regurgitate what they have been told by leftist professors and friends on social media.
At Columbia, at least three tenured professors dispense propaganda about the history of the Middle East. The New York Post identified them: “Joseph Massad, a professor of modern Arab politics and history, has faced widespread calls to be fired ever since he referred to the Oct. 7 attack inflicted by Hamas terrorists (on Israel) as ‘awesome.'”
Mohamed Abdou, who is described on Columbia’s website as “a North African-Egyptian Muslim anarchist interdisciplinary activist-scholar of Indigenous, Black, critical race and Islamic studies, as well as gender, sexuality, abolition and decolonization.” Abdou declared on social media, “Yes, I’m with Hamas and Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad.”