Mandatory Gun Safety Training In Schools Per New State Law

A new topic has entered Tennessee children’s classrooms. Adhering to a law passed by the Tennessee General Assembly in 2024, all Tennessee school systems will implement mandatory gun safety training in the 2025-26 school year. Every student, from kindergarten through twelfth grade, will receive training based on age-appropriate metrics determined by the state government. While all schools must provide training, their methods could look slightly different.

The annual gun safety training is meant to be treated similarly to fire safety training. While the guidelines vary by grade, themes for all ages include safe firearms storage, school safety and injury prevention. The mandate also creates firearm safety rules for children, which all students should be able to list following training. The rules are, “Stop!” “Don’t Touch!” “Leave the Area,” and “Tell an Adult.”

Students of all ages must learn the definitions for the terms “firearm,” “safety,” and “responsible.” They must also be able to “demonstrate a mature attitude regarding firearms.”

Children in kindergarten through second grade will learn to identify the difference between toy guns and real firearms. Teachers will emphasize that any firearm, regardless of looks, can be real and should be treated as such. Students must also learn the difference between the trigger, barrel and muzzle of a gun.

Students in third through fifth grade will learn to describe the differences and similarities between toy guns, air guns, BB guns and modern firearms. Similarly to younger students, they must learn the different parts of a gun.

Students in grades six through 12 must learn the proper storage of firearms and ammunition in the homes. Instructors must review the fire safety rules for those unfamiliar with them.

Training cannot include live ammunition, live fire or live firearms, but state law does not prohibit non-functioning model weapons. Teachers may use instructional videos, online resources or external instruction by School Resource Officers, local law enforcement, public health educators, TWRA officials or other local partners. Teaching is also required to be neutral on political topics like gun rights, gun violence and the Second Amendment.

Tennessee is the first state to mandate gun safety training, so schools had to set their own precedent based on guidance from the Tennessee Department of Education.

The McKenzie Special School District is working through the process of teaching the required firearm safety rules to students at each school, according to superintendent Justin Barden.

“Admin, SROs, counselors, and other staff are formulating plans to deliver instruction to students using the state-provided materials and resources, ensuring that we deliver [to each] grade appropriately,” said Barden. “It is our intention to have the materials covered in the first semester.”

Huntingdon Special School District superintendent Jonathan Kee said he anticipates this training to appear in Huntingdon schools in January.

“We plan to have our School Resource Officers and Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency collaborate and offer the training,” said Kee. “Sergeant Drake Whitworth, our School Safety Coordinator, will be overseeing the training. We anticipate this being a short assembly or daily lesson in class.”

The gun safety training mandate follows findings from the Tennessee Department of Health’s Child Fatality 2024 Annual Report. This report revealed that Tennessee had a 37.1 percent higher firearm-related child death rate in 2022 than the national average. In Tennessee, there was an 11.6 percent increase in firearm-related child deaths between 2018 and 2022.

The law does not mandate that parents be notified of when, exactly, training will occur or what it will include. However, state guidance does recommend open communication and transparency with parents.