(a) Notwithstanding § 39-17-1309 or any other provision of title 39, chapter 17, part 13 to the contrary, the following people are permitted to possess and carry a firearm on the grounds of the school at which they are assigned:

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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 49-6-815

  • Person: includes a corporation, firm, company or association. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Property: includes both personal and real property. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in a perceivable form. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • written: includes printing, typewriting, engraving, lithography, and any other mode of representing words and letters. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(1) A person employed by an LEA as a faculty or staff member at a school within the LEA; or
(2) A person assigned to a school in accordance with a memorandum of understanding between the chief of the appropriate law enforcement agency and the LEA.
(b) In order to possess and carry a firearm on the grounds of the school pursuant to subsection (a), the person must:

(1) Be authorized to possess and carry a firearm pursuant to § 39-17-1351;
(2) Have the joint written authorization of the director of schools in conjunction with the principal of the school to carry or possess a firearm on school property; and
(3) Be a law enforcement officer, or have prior service as a law enforcement officer, as defined in § 39-11-106, and be in compliance with all laws, rules and regulations of the peace officer standards and training (POST) commission, and have successfully completed forty (40) hours in basic training in school policing as required by § 49-6-4217. Any such training shall be approved by the LEA and the cost of the training, firearm and ammunition shall be at the expense of the person seeking authorization and not the LEA.
(c)

(1) Within ten (10) days after the director of schools has authorized a person to carry or possess a firearm on school property pursuant to subdivision (a)(1) or (a)(2), the director shall notify the chief of the appropriate law enforcement agency of each such authorization.
(2) The notification pursuant to this subsection (c) shall contain basic information about each such person including name, address, contact information and whether the person is authorized under subdivision (a)(1) or (a)(2).
(d) The joint written authorization of the director of schools and the principal of the school given pursuant to subdivision (b)(2), the notification transmitted to the chief of the appropriate law enforcement agency pursuant to subdivision (c)(1), the names and contact information of any person authorized to carry or possess a firearm on school property pursuant to subdivision (c)(2), any listing or compilation of names or individual names of persons who are authorized to carry or possess a firearm on school property, whether the director of schools and the principal of the school have or have not issued joint written authorization to carry or possess a firearm on school property, or any other document, file, record, information or material relating to the carrying or possessing of a firearm on school property pursuant to this section that is received by, transmitted to, maintained, stored or compiled by the director of schools, the principal of the school, any LEA, or city, county or municipal law enforcement agency, shall be confidential and not open for public inspection.
(e) Nothing in § 49-3-315 shall be construed to require an LEA or a law enforcement agency of the county to assign or provide funding for a school resource officer as defined in § 49-6-4202 to any city school system within that county on the basis of the WFTEADA as defined by § 49-3-302. The providing of security or school resource officers by a sheriff shall be considered a law enforcement function and not a school operation or maintenance purpose that requires the apportionment of funds pursuant to § 49-3-315.
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