Wave of state gun laws deepens Democrat-Republican divide
Some public school teachers in Tennessee could gain new powers to carry concealed guns into the classroom, a year after a deadly school shooting in the state’s capital city stirred impassioned debate about the best ways to curb such violence.
The state’s Republican-led Legislature gave final approval to the law this week, just days after Republican governors in Iowa and Nebraska signed laws that also expand the potential for armed personnel in schools.
Tennessee lawmakers also gave final approval to bills letting retired law officers bring guns into schools and prohibiting local extreme-riskprotection ordinances that allow guns to be removed from people judged to pose a threat to themselves or others.
Both bills head next to Republican Governor Bill Lee, who last year failed in a bid for a statewide measure that would allow some version of extreme risk protection orders.
The legislative action highlights a national divide on public safety and gun policies, coming as Democraticled legislatures in Colorado, Maine and Vermont all took steps toward imposing greater firearm restrictions.
Politicians in about 20 states have already passed measures this year to expand gun rights or restrict access to firearms. Dozens more proposals are pending. This continues a trend from last year, when more than half the states passed firearms laws, with Democrats generally favouring more limits and Republicans fewer.
Guns in Tennessee
A little over a year ago, a shooter opened fire at the Covenant School, a private Christian elementary school in Nashville, killing three children and three adults before police killed him.
Tensions ran high as lawmakers debated a response, peaking as the Republican majority expelled two black Democratic House members last year for their role in a protest supporting gun control. Both lawmakers were subsequently reinstated.
Protests also broke out this week after the latest school gun legislation.
A previous Tennessee law already allowed some private school teachers and staff to carry guns. The new measure would expand that to public schools with several conditions.
Teachers and staff would have to get a permit to carry a handgun, for which they must get mental health clearance and do 40 hours of training in basic school policing. They also would need written authorisation from the principal and local law enforcement. And they could not take guns into school events at stadiums, gymnasiums or auditoriums.
The law was one of several pro-gun bills passed this year in Tennessee.
On Tuesday, Lee signed a bill expanding the private school gun provisions to preschools. On Wednesday, he signed law requiring schools to provide age-appropriate instruction on firearm safety. The same day he signed law prohibiting financial institutions from requiring special tracking codes for retail firearm sales.
Guns in schools
About half of the US states allow teachers or other school employees with concealed carry permits to bring guns on to school property, according to the Giffords Law Centre, a gun control advocacy group.
About six states have passed measures this year that could expand the ability of some people to bring guns into schools.
Iowa governor Kim Reynolds, a Republican, signed legislation last week that creates new protections for teachers who carry guns in schools. A 2021 state law already allowed schools to authorise individuals to carry firearms, but some districts have been reluctant to embrace that because of concerns about insurance coverage.
The new Iowa law allows staff who do gun safety training to get a professional permit to carry guns in schools. If they do, they would be protected from criminal and civil liability for use of reasonable force. The law comes three months after a 17-year-old student opened fire at a school in Perry, Iowa, killing a a school principal and sixth-grade student and wounding several other people.
Nebraska governor Jim Pillen, a Republican, signed legislation last week that would authorise security staff in the state’s smallest school districts to carry guns. The law was pared back from an initial proposal that would have applied to all schools.
Republican-led legislatures in Kentucky, South Dakota and Utah also passed laws that could expand the ability of some people to bring guns into schools. A law in Wyoming allots $480,000 to reimburse schools for the cost of training employees to carry guns on school property.
Gun control measures
Contrary to the Republican-backed measures, lawmakers in various Democratic-led states have been forging ahead this year with measures to impose greater restrictions on guns.
After an Army reservist killed 18 people and wounded 13 others in Lewiston last year, Democratic Maine governor Janet Mills called for a variety of new laws aimed at preventing dangerous people from having guns.
The Democratic-led Legislature last week approved measures that would impose a 72-hour waiting period for gun purchases and expand background checks on private gun sales. It also passed legislation to ban devices that convert semi-automatic firearms into rapid-firing weapons like machine guns, and enhance an existing law that allows judges to temporarily remove guns from people during a mental health crisis.
The Vermont House this week approved a bill that cracks down on the possession and transfer of so-called ghost guns — hard-to-trace firearms and their components that lack serial numbers and are increasingly being used in crimes. It now goes back to the state Senate for consideration.
Supporters say it’s critical for Vermont to require background checks and serial numbers on these often privately made firearms to keep guns out of the hands of people prohibited from having them and as the US Supreme Court takes up the legal fight over ghost guns.
Colorado’s Democratic-led Legislature is considering numerous guncontrol proposals. Among several that recently passed the House, one would require gun dealers to get state permits and another would ask voters to impose a 9 per cent tax on the sale of guns and ammunition.