MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WKRN) — Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) is investing in a brand-new weapons detection system with a nearly $2 million state grant.
In a time where campus shootings and threats are top of mind, police are adding Athena weapons detection systems at the gates of every major event.
“We have some pretty large events. We’re Division 1s; we have football games and basketball games and soccer games and concerts and political events,” MTSU Chief of Police Edwin Kaup said. “As opposed to old metal detectors that get everything — your keys, your phones — here, we don’t have to do that. We can walk through; as long as you don’t have a weapon, you should be good.”
The systems are part of a $1.8 million higher education safety grant.
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Students said this extra layer of protection gives them peace of mind when it comes to keeping guns off campus.
“It’s really not possible to have massive, like, harmful events if we don’t have those things floating around, so it keeps that from happening,” sophomore Ellaleigh Hall said.