Metro Nashville Public Schools won’t allow staff or teachers to carry concealed guns on their campuses, despite the newly passed Tennessee law that allows it if certain requirements are met.

MNPS’s spokesperson Sean Braisted stated in an email that “we have a good relationship with Metro Nashville Police Department, and we agree that only active duty law enforcement officers should carry weapons on campus.” This has been the MNPS’s consistent practice, and we don’t intend to change it.

Bill Lee is expected to sign the measure. Bill Lee has ordered that faculty and staff members must comply with the following in order to bring weapons onto school grounds.

Keep a Tennessee handgun permit valid

Submit two sets of fingerprints and a background check to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. The TBI must determine a person’s eligibility for carrying a gun and perform a criminal background check within 30 day, as well as forwarding a second set of fingerprints on to the Federal Bureau of Investigation to conduct a federal background investigation.

Get a psychological or psychiatric certificate from a licensed healthcare provider

Completion of 40 hours in basic school police training

Sign off from the director of schools of the school district, the principal of the school, and the head of the “appropriate law enforcement agency”

The bill was passed despite the protests, fervent opposition and fierce criticism from Democrats, students and teachers, gun reformers of both parties, and parents. The GOP leadership ordered the removal of the public galleries at recent Senate and House Hearings on the bill due to protests. State troopers have arrested at least one protester.

By Wednesday, almost 6,000 people signed a petition opposing the bill. The initiative was driven by parents of Covenant School pupils. Three children and three adults were killed by a shooter at the Nashville School last spring.

Lee has not yet taken any action on the bill. If Lee does not act within 10 days (excluding Sundays), the bill becomes law without his signature.