State Representative Michael Hale Explains Reasons for Backing Legislation to allow Teachers to be Armed in Schools

May 5, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has signed legislation allowing teachers and school staff in the state to be armed in school buildings and campuses.

State lawmakers approved the bill which authorizes a faculty or staff member of a school to carry a concealed handgun on school grounds, subject to certain conditions including having approval from the principal and others to possess a gun.

In Tennessee, school personnel who want to carry a concealed weapon must:

• Get an enhanced carry permit

• Get written authorization from the superintendent, principal and the chief of the appropriate law enforcement agency

• Complete 40 hours of basic training in school policing and 40 hours of Peace Officer’s Standards and Training commission-approved training that is specific to school policing each year at the educator’s expense

• Complete a background check

• Undergo a psychological exam conducted by a Tennessee-licensed health care provider

The law does not, however, allow people to openly carry weapons “or in any other manner in which the handgun is visible to ordinary observation,” and does not allow handguns to be carried in “stadiums, gymnasiums, or auditoriums when school-sponsored events are in progress,” nor in meetings where tenure or disciplinary matters are being discussed. Also, parents would not necessarily know or be notified if their child’s teacher were armed.

State Representative Michael Hale of DeKalb County said he supported the legislation, and he explained why in an interview with WJLE.

“This bill was written by one of the people with the sheriff’s association and I had a conversation with a couple of chiefs, sheriff, and one of our county mayors that would be greatly affected by this. One of the reasons I voted for it is that it gives control back to the local governments for the decision to be made between the school system, sheriff, and principal. They are able to make the decision whether they want to do this or not,” he said

According to Representative Hale, the new law will enhance security and give support to SRO’s in schools, particularly in isolated rural areas.

“We (state legislature) passed the SRO bill last year which gives $75,000 per officer and pays for those officers and covers that but, for example on any given day in Cannon County we have three schools that are totally unprotected. They have no SRO in those schools making them a wide-open target every day with the students, teachers, and faculty,” said Representative Hale.

“Concerns remain even for those rural schools that do have an SRO but are several minutes away from town (county seat) such as DeKalb West School at Liberty or Defeated Creek in Smith County. If I am the shooter and I go into these places I know I have only one (armed) person (SRO) to take down,” Hale explained.

“This goes back to what happened at Covenant (Nashville) last year. In part of her writings, she (shooter) looked at doing Opry Mills and at other schools but the fact that there were armed people there was what deterred her from targeting those. She had also tracked out how long it would take police and back up to get there,” Representative Hale continued.

“One of the things I think people don’t realize was that in 2016 or 2017 a bill was passed by the state legislature for distressed counties where people were allowed to carry in schools with only a concealed permit. College professors were able to be armed. That’s been on the books for several years. I didn’t even know that until we started working through this but this new law with the stricter parameters is far greater than what was done in 2016-17”.

“I just feel like having extra security is a win for our students and faculty. Its an extra safeguard. Plus, there are so many parameters. They (teachers) would have to get a concealed carry permit, 40 hours of training which involves active shooter training, and the sheriff, director of schools, and principal would have to sign off on it. I just feel like this is a good thing for added security in rural counties because we are not dealing with gun violence. We are dealing with people violence, and we have to be able to guard and safeguard the best we can against these people that will do these acts,” said Representative Hale.

May 5, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

Dismissed!

A local minister has been cleared of charges brought against him last summer in Macon County stemming from a domestic situation involving his daughter and runaway granddaughter.

David Lunsford, charged with custodial interference and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, recently made a court appearance in Macon County where the case was dismissed and is to be expunged. According to Lunsford, the District Attorney General, who originally brought the charges, came to the conclusion that the case should be dropped and convinced Lunsford’s daughter to give up on pursuing the prosecution of it.

The charges against Lunsford were based on allegations he knowingly refused to disclose to authorities the whereabouts of his 14-year-old granddaughter when she ran away from home in Macon County last August. The child allegedly claimed she had been the victim of abuse in the home by her mother, who had legal custody of the girl at the time.

Lunsford consistently claimed he was innocent of the charges and denied assertions that he knew the location of the child at the time other than communication relayed to him that she was at a safe house undisclosed to him. According to Lunsford, he had been aware of a domestic violence environment the teen had been exposed to at home which caused her to leave and seek refuge.

“They had accused me of custodial interference, which is a felony,” said Lunsford. “They thought that I had removed the child from the home, but she had literally run away and the reality is volunteers from the church went and picked her up off the street. She was afraid and that’s why she refused to go back home because of the risk of being placed back with her mother knowing it was going to get violent. They thought I had encouraged her to do that (run away from home). What finally brought her out of hiding after three months was my attorney who volunteered to go to court with her even though she was a minor. They went before the judge to get a ruling so that she couldn’t be forced to go back to her mother,” said Lunsford.

Today, Lunsford said his grandchild who is now placed with her father is happy and doing well and even he (Lunsford) and his daughter have reconciled. “We talk frequently, and things are going good,” said Lunsford. “The family has become reunified except for the mother and daughter who are still having issues, but steps are being taken for them to work through that. Every aspect of this case has gone very well. Everybody involved did the right thing and justice was served but the most important part is those broken relationships are being repaired,” said Lunsford.

May 3, 2024
By:

Members of the DeKalb and Warren track and field team set the new school record in the boys 4 x400 meter relay team on April 23rd at Cookeville High School. The girls 4x 400 relay came extraordinarily close, missing the record by 3 hundredths of a second. It was an exciting night of track and field for these athletes!

Teammates Julian Martinez, Lee-Allen Esperza, Kaleb Spears and Andrew Key broke the record with a blazing time of 3.36.64, besting the previous mark set in 2016 by almost 2 seconds!!

The girls 4×400 team was run by Breanna Iverson, Chloe VanVranken,
Ella VanVranken, and Zoey Snider with a time of 4.28.7. Missing the record by such a fraction of a second left the girls team hungry for another chance. The record was set last year at sub-sectionals with a time of 4:28.4.

Other personal bests set on Tuesday were:
Ella Hendrixson 200 meter: 32.13
Leah Trapp 100 meter: 15.08
Chloe VanVranken 400 meter: 63.8
Tytianna Fisk 100 meter: 17.37

Pictured left to right are 4×400 teams: Julian Martinez, Lee-Allen Esperza, Kaleb Spears, Andrew Key, Breanna Iverson, Chloe VanVranken, Ella VanVranken, and Zoey Snider.