Tennessee has enacted a new law that would permit full-time employees of state colleges and universities to carry guns on campus. Gov. Bill Haslam signed the legislation on Monday so that faculty and staff members can defend themselves and students against potential troublemakers.
Licensed To Carry
The new guns-on-campus law will take effect this July. To appease growing concerns from college administrators, the law includes a provision which requires full-time public school employees to notify local police units regarding their state-issued handgun licenses.
"I am letting SB 2376 become law without my signature," said Gov. Bill Haslam in a statement via Business Insider. "I have long stated a preference for systems and institutions to be able to make their own decisions regarding security issues on campus, and I again expressed this concern throughout the legislative process this year."
Despite the expected increase of firearms at college campuses, guns will still be banned at school events like basketball and football games. Faculty and staff members are also forbidden to carry their guns in areas covered by existing laws, including on-campus elementary schools and daycare centers.
Mixed Emotions
Erin Luper, a lobbyist for the National Rifle Association, is a staunch supporter of Tennessee's new guns-on-campus law. She said gun-free schools invite murders and rapists to wreak havoc whenever they want, without fear of retaliation from their victims.
Contrastingly, Austin Peay State University's SGA president, Will Roberts, believes there are better ways to decrease gun violence at schools rather than equipping professors and staffers with firearms of their own. He has opposed the idea ever since Tennessee House Rep. Andy Holt and Sen. Mike Bell proposed the bill earlier this year.
"I feel like adding more guns, especially to a place of higher learning, just interferes with the process of being able to learn in a comfortable environment," Roberts said, as per The Tennessean. "[I'm] a gun owner and shoot for sport, and it just comes to a place where you have to draw the line on the argument that more guns means more protection."
Roberts suggested more formalized means to protect schools from shootings and other heinous crimes. He said improved coordination with the police and more security personnel at schools are better alternatives than arming faculty and staff members.
