Tennessee arms teachers: Several adults stand and sit in balcony gallery area, many holding signs with language protesting arming teachers in schools

A school shooting in Tennessee sparked activism — and now frustration

Ibtihal “Ibti” Cheko, 17, thought she would spend the legislative session in Tennessee advocating for laws about how guns should be stored and implementing background checks for those who want to buy them. Instead, Cheko and other organizers with Students Demand Action pivoted to trying to make sure Senate Bill 1325, which would permit faculty and staff to carry handguns at school, did not pass. They weren’t successful. The bill passed in both chambers in April.

When students bring guns to North Carolina schools: gun falling out of backpack on top of yellow book

When students bring guns to North Carolina schools

West Charlotte High School had let out only minutes earlier when, hearing gunfire, school officials ordered an immediate lockdown and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department officers swarmed the campus. That incident, the week before Christmas break 2021, was the ninth time a gun had been found at one of Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s most troubled public schools since the start of the school year.