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The Tennessee Conservative [By Jason Vaughn] –
In the first five weeks of school, Metro Nashville Public Schools has seen five incidents of students bringing guns onto campus.
The school year began with its first full day for students on August 10. August 25 marked the first gun incident when an 11th grade student at Whites Creek High School brought a .40-caliber semi-automatic pistol and 16 rounds of ammunition. Police say the student claims the weapon, which he says he purchased on the streets the day before, was for “protection” because of a problem in his neighborhood.
Just over a week later, a second-grade student at Parks Avenue Elementary School showed up with a 9-millimeter semi-automatic pistol. A teacher saw the gun and escorted the student to the office. The child told officers that he found the gun in his guardian’s drawer and had “no idea why” he brought it to school.
On September 13, during a random search, a senior at Hillwood High School was found to have a 9-millimeter handgun that was loaded with eight rounds in his backpack. On September 15, a Pearl Cohn High School junior was caught hiding a .380 semi-automatic pistol along a fence at the football field. Then, on September 16, another student from Whites Creek High School was found to be carrying a loaded 9-millimeter handgun and 17 rounds of ammunition.
Police have not identified any link between the incidents, other than the fact that all of them have occurred at the start of a new in-person school year after students spent most of the last school year in remote learning.
Christiane Buggs, chairperson of the Metro Nashville School Board, says that the “silver lining” is that there were no injuries, but also says, “We can’t be dismissive of it.”
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School board members are calling on legislators to address gun issues across the state, but they do not expect much to come from that request.
“Schools are often the place where issues first start to bubble up, and we’ll have to tackle it just like anything else we do,” Buggs said.
Currently, no schools in the Metro Nashville school system have stationary metal detectors. Security personnel does conduct both random and target searches as requested by administrators.
The school system also works in conjunction with the Metro Nashville Police Department and the Oasis Center to help provide students with the means to prevent violence.
MNPS spokesperson Sean Braisted said that guns are part of a “larger sociological issue” that the school system is working to address.
About the Author: Jason Vaughn, Media Coordinator for The Tennessee Conservative ~ Jason previously worked for a legacy publishing company based in Crossville, TN in a variety of roles through his career. Most recently, he served as Deputy Directory for their flagship publication. Prior, he was a freelance journalist writing articles that appeared in the Herald Citizen, the Crossville Chronicle and The Oracle among others. He graduated from Tennessee Technological University with a Bachelor’s in English-Journalism, with minors in Broadcast Journalism and History. Contact Jason at news@TennesseeConservativeNews.com
