It'll soon be legal for employees to carry guns on Tennessee public campuses

Tennessee university employees will now be able to carry guns on campus.
(Image credit: iStock)

Full-time employees of Tennessee's public colleges and universities are now allowed to carry guns on campus with proper handgun permits, WKRN-TV reports. The law, which Gov. Bill Haslam (R) allowed to pass without his signature, is set to go into effect July 1.

"I have long stated a preference for systems and institutions to be able to make their own decisions regarding security issues on campus, and I again expressed this concern throughout the legislative process this year," Haslam wrote to the House and Senate on Monday. "Although SB 2376 does not go as far as I would like in retaining campus control, the final version of the bill included input from higher education and was shaped to accommodate some of their concerns."

A state senator proposed the bill following a fatal October shooting at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon.

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Julie Kliegman

Julie Kliegman is a freelance writer based in New York. Her work has appeared in BuzzFeed, Vox, Mental Floss, Paste, the Tampa Bay Times and PolitiFact. Her cats can do somersaults.