Tennessee lawmakers pass bill to increase punishment for school threats
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — It may soon be a felony to threaten the safety of a Tennessee school.
On Thursday, the Tennessee Senate unanimously passed a bill to increase the punishment for threats of mass violence on school property.
The bill elevates the punishment from a Class A misdemeanor to a Class E felony, which results in seven months in jail on average, according to the bill’s fiscal note.
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This comes just a couple of days after the General Assembly passed another bill that would require juveniles to lose their driver’s license or their ability to obtain one if they threaten mass violence on school property.
“Just one threat will create havoc,” said Cheatham County Sheriff Tim Binkley. “Not just for the school and all the kids….but we are going to call surrounding county officers, we are going to send all the officers we have available, our SWAT Teams go out to these things. So it’s not only time-consuming but very very costly.”
Sheriff Binkley said he has seen an uptick in school threats over the past few years and hopes increasing the punishment for mass threats will act as a deterrent.
“I think the intended outcome would be to rehabilitate these [kids] at a higher level. We are not looking to punishment them for the rest of their lives…maybe get them in a different mindset,” Binkley said.
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The Rutherford County School Board passed a resolution calling for the General Assembly to remove a student’s driver’s license if they threaten mass violence.
“[I’m] very supportive [of] any bill that continues to add deterrence and add teeth to holding students and other ones accountable for threats that they make,” Director of Schools Jimmy Sullivan said.
The Tennessee Department of Homeland Security is charged with tracking school threats for the state, but told News 2 in a statement that information on school security is confidential.
However, according to available state data, there were 84 bomb threats at Tennessee schools last school year. There were 44 the year prior.
“It gets publicized a lot,” Sullivan said of threats “So that makes students try to echo things that are going on.”
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Sullivan said while he hates doing it, he believes expelling students who make threats has helped deter other students from doing the same.
So, he hopes these bills will do the same.
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