NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - Controversy over the State Senate’s decision to pass a bill that would allow teachers to carry guns in school continues. Some support the move saying it will make students safer with the right training.
The group ‘Faster Saves Lives’ believes giving teachers the option to carry weapons is a good idea. They say by not needing to wait for law enforcement, teachers can protect students themselves.
“We see certain staff that go willingly stand between somebody with a rifle and give up the last few seconds of their lives to buy these kids a few more minutes alive,” Program Director Joe Eaton said.
Eaton says those staff deserve the ability to fight back as best they can, which he said includes carrying a concealed handgun.
That’s why they offer training — in the roughly 30 states where it’s legal — on how to stop a school shooter and administer first aid.
“It doesn’t replace school resource officers or EMTs, or police officers,” Eaton said. “It simply allows schools and the staff that choose to have the ability to immediately respond to this violence and first stop the killing in any way possible.”
When asked about the backlash, Eaton says that’s why the training is important and keeping the decisions at a district level.
“They know what works best for their students, for their staff and for their community in general, and can change and make changes a lot faster than we would ever see happen at the legislative or the state level,” he said.
The bill would require teachers to get approval from the principal, superintendent, and law enforcement in order to carry.
“Thousands of ‘what if’ scenarios are always thrown out there to try to stop schools from looking at all their options,” Eaton said. “But basically, it simply boils down to time.”
They say once a violent event starts, every second can save lives.
“Waiting on the outside for help to get there is too long in these situations, you’ve got to cut that timeline down as small as possible to save as many lives as absolutely possible,” Eaton said.
In the past twelve years, they’ve only had one teacher have to use their firearm and five used their first aid skills. Eaton says in the schools they’ve trained, typically about five to fifteen percent of the staff choose to carry a firearm.
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