Gov. Bill Lee said Thursday he will sign legislation into law to let some teachers and staff go armed in Tennessee public schools.
“Districts have the option to choose,” Lee told reporters after the legislature adjourned for the year. Some school systems, he added, need that option.
His decision comes despite calls from teacher and gun control groups for the governor to veto the bill, as well as concern that parents won’t be notified if their child’s teacher is armed. In nearly six years as governor, Lee has advocated for parental rights on education matters such as curriculum and library materials.
The impending law becomes one of the most significant public safety actions in Tennessee since an intruder shot and killed three students and three staff members at a private Christian school in Nashville.
Partisan votes in the GOP-controlled legislature advanced the bill this month despite mass protests at the state Capitol seeking stricter gun laws in the wake of the massacre at The Covenant School.