NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – Soon, your child’s teacher could carry a gun in the classroom.

The TN Senate passed a controversial bill to arm teachers on Tuesday, April 9.

That bill is now one House vote away from Gov. Bill Lee’s desk, but it wouldn’t arm the teachers immediately.

Tennessee Senate passes bill allowing armed public school teachers

On top of background checks and other requirements, teachers would have to go through 40 hours of training in school policing, the same amount of training required for school resource officers, based on state code.

Brink Filder, president of Defense Systems, trains school resource officers across the country. He spoke about the push to arm teachers here in Tennessee.

“The spirit of the bill is right, but the methodology in which we use to get there could use some improvement,” Fidler said.

According to a member of the Tennessee School Resource Officers Association, only eight of those hours go to firearm training.

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Fidler said an SRO doesn’t just focus on active shooter threats, but he believes teachers should because that’s the point of arming them.

“I would like to see that the 40 hours are spent dealing with active threats, clearing buildings, accuracy, which is an issue because you’re dealing with a lot of children,” Fidler said.

Robertson County Schools Superintendent Danny Weeks also weighed in.

“My real concern is what safe guards will we have in place and how will we implement the bill,” Weeks said. “That’s where my initial thoughts are.”

Weeks said it’s asking a lot to put teachers in charge of security.

Read the latest from the TN State Capitol Newsroom

“Our focus is on teaching and learning,” Weeks said. “It’s our preference that law enforecement takes care of those pieces.”

Fidler and Weeks hope lawmakers make revisions to the bill.

“If we’re arming these teachers, we’re asking them to deal with an active threat inside of school and they’ll need more than a small handgun in my opinion.”

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