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Two extra Tennessee college students have died by gunfire at college in a state that has invested a whole bunch of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} to fortify campuses — and completed little to limit gun entry.
Police stated a 16-year-old feminine scholar at Nashville’s Antioch Excessive College died after being shot Wednesday within the cafeteria by a 17-year-old male scholar with a handgun, who then shot himself within the head and died. A 3rd scholar was grazed within the arm in the course of the capturing.
The capturing comes lower than two years after a mass capturing at a non-public Christian faculty in Nashville prompted the state’s Republican supermajority to put money into extra school-based security officers, safety upgrades, and permitting some public faculty lecturers to hold weapons.
This yr’s legislative agenda, headlined by a particular session referred to as by Republican Gov. Invoice Lee, is dominated by non-public faculty vouchers and enforcement of President Donald Trump’s immigration insurance policies.
Whereas some Democrats on Wednesday signaled a need to take up faculty security and gun reforms, it was unclear from the preliminary response whether or not Republicans who’ve agency management of state authorities will reply.
The newest capturing occurred at roughly 11:09 a.m., prompting a lockdown on the 2,100-student public faculty within the southeast Nashville neighborhood of Antioch. College students later had been transported by bus to a close-by hospital to reunite with their households.
“It’s impossibly tough to be right here, as soon as once more, coping with the devastation of gun violence in considered one of our faculty communities,” Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell stated at a information convention exterior the college campus.
Tennessee has invested closely at school safety
Lee’s administration principally sought to fortify faculty campuses in response to the 2023 capturing by a former scholar that killed three youngsters and three adults at Nashville’s Covenant College.
The GOP-controlled legislature has rejected efforts by Democrats to tighten the state’s lax gun legal guidelines.
In 2023, lawmakers added $144 million yearly to the state funds to pay for not less than one school-based officer for each public faculty. Tens of hundreds of thousands of extra {dollars} had been invested to assist private and non-private colleges make safety upgrades and bolster collaboration between colleges and state homeland safety brokers.
Lawmakers in 2024 authorized new faculty hearth alarm protocols to bear in mind active-shooter conditions; a pilot program to offer lecturers wearable alarms; and elevated security coaching for varsity bus drivers, amongst different issues.
Their most contentious debate was over a invoice to let some public faculty lecturers and workers carry weapons below sure circumstances. Finally, the measure handed simply regardless of dramatic protests on the state Capitol by residents wanting fewer weapons in colleges, no more. To date, few Tennessee faculty methods, if any, have sought to pursue that choice.
In the meantime, one other 2024 legislation — to severely punish threats of mass faculty violence — has resulted in youngsters being kicked out of college and arrested on felony fees, generally due to rumors and misunderstandings. The legislation is being challenged in courtroom by a number of households who’ve filed lawsuits questioning its use.
This yr, the governor has referred to as the legislature right into a particular session starting Jan. 27 to take up “public security” measures geared toward curbing unlawful immigration, a statewide non-public faculty voucher proposal, and emergency assist for flood-damaged components of northeast Tennessee.
However Democrats stated Wednesday that immigration and vouchers are distractions from the toll of gun violence on Tennesseans, particularly its youngest residents.
In 2022, firearms had been the main reason for dying among the many state’s youngsters and youths ages 1-17.
“Whereas we don’t but know all of the circumstances of the capturing, we do know {that a} minor someway accessed a handgun, walked into his faculty with that handgun and dedicated an unspeakable act of violence, ending his personal life and the lifetime of an harmless baby,” stated Rep. John Ray Clemmons, of Nashville, who chairs the Home Democratic Caucus.
Antioch is similar neighborhood the place Shaundelle Brooks’ son Akilah was killed throughout a 2018 capturing at a Waffle Home restaurant. Brooks, who has turn out to be an outspoken advocate for gun management, was elected final fall to signify the realm within the state Home of Representatives. She was sworn in final week because the legislature convened a brand new two-year session.
“We’re just one week into the beginning of our legislative session and already our state has been ravaged by one other faculty capturing,” Brooks stated Wednesday. “We should do higher.”
The governor stated on social media that he had been briefed concerning the capturing and was becoming a member of Tennesseans “in praying for the victims, their households & the college neighborhood.” A number of GOP leaders within the legislature stated they had been ready for extra particulars from legislation enforcement.
States search for methods to guard America’s colleges
Different states have taken quite a lot of approaches to answer faculty shootings, typically coloured by which political social gathering is in energy.
Final month in Michigan, lawmakers authorized a bundle of payments geared toward stopping violence in colleges within the wake of the 2021 Oxford faculty capturing that killed 4 college students.
Among the laws had bipartisan assist, together with payments placing extra psychological well being assist in place for college kids and creating standardized terminology for first responders and faculty workers to make use of throughout faculty emergencies. Others, resembling a invoice requiring districts to ship dwelling details about protected firearm storage, had been pushed by way of by Democrats.
In Georgia, legislators are floating concepts to guard college students in response to a mass capturing at highschool final September, together with revisiting a tax credit score for gun security units that stalled final yr. Different measures are anticipated to handle scholar psychological well being and, as in Michigan, higher communication between faculty districts and different authorities companies.
The Georgia capturing, in Apalachee, raised main questions on how faculty methods and legislation enforcement share info, in addition to the poor state of psychological well being security nets. The alleged shooter had been investigated beforehand on suspicion of creating on-line threats. His mom reportedly referred to as the college warning of an “excessive emergency” that morning, however faculty officers weren’t capable of finding the coed earlier than the capturing began.
Lawmakers in Texas, one other Republican-controlled state, mandated armed guards at each public faculty, panic buttons in school rooms, extra workers coaching, and extra psychological well being assist for college kids after the 2022 Uvalde capturing.
Latest faculty shootings even have centered extra consideration on how shooters get hold of their weapons — research discover that the majority of them get them at dwelling. Dad and mom confronted fees after shootings in Oxford, Michigan, and Apalachee, Georgia.
Practically all public colleges management entry to their doorways when children are within the constructing with measures like locks and monitoring. Many now use a single level of entry. Round 60% of public colleges additionally management entry to their grounds when faculty is in session with boundaries like a locked gate.
Round 45% of public colleges had an armed police officer or different sworn legislation enforcement officer current not less than as soon as per week in the course of the 2021-22 faculty yr, the latest federal knowledge exhibits.
Two armed faculty useful resource officers had been patrolling Antioch Excessive College in Nashville when Wednesday’s capturing occurred, authorities stated. Police stated that by the point the 2 officers arrived on the cafeteria, the capturing was over and the shooter was useless.
The varsity can be closed for the remainder of the week as Metro Nashville Public Colleges arranges for grief counseling and different assist for college kids and workers.
Marta Aldrich is a senior correspondent and covers the statehouse for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Contact her at [email protected].
