The Tennessee House of Representatives Tuesday passed a bill that would significantly increase the penalty for making violent threats against schools.
HB 2198 “increases the penalty for the offense of threatening to commit an act of mass violence on school property or at a school-related activity from a Class A misdemeanor to a Class E felony.”
In Tennessee, the criminal penalty for a Class E felony is a prison sentence of one to six years and up to a $3,000 fine. A class A misdemeanor, by contrast, carries a penalty of 29 days to 11 months in jail and up to a $2,500 fine.
The bill’s Tennessee Senate counterpart, SB 2263, was placed on the Senate Judiciary Committee’s calendar for Tuesday.
On Monday, two private schools in the Nashville area closed “out of an abundance of caution” after one of them, Christ Presbyterian Academy in Nashville, received a message with “disconcerting language.” The person who sent the message has reportedly been questioned by the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) but has not been charged with a crime.
The legislation’s passage comes just one day before the anniversary of a shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville that killed six people, including three children.
In court, a battle still rages over the release of a manifesto left behind by the shooter, transgender-identifying Audrey Hale.
The Star News Network has filed two lawsuits in an attempt to have the documents released.
Conservative podcaster Steven Crowder released a leaked portion of the manifesto on his show “Louder With Crowder” in November 2023.
*READER WARNING: MATURE LANGUAGE*
The manifesto said in part:
“Kill those kids!!!
those crackers
going to fancy private schools
with those fancy khakis & sports backpacks
w/ their daddies Mustangs + convertibles
fuck you little shits
I wish to shoot you weak ass dicks w/ your mop yellow hair
Wanna kill all you little crackers!!!
Bunch of little f*****s
w/ your white privileges
fuck you f*****s
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on X / Twitter.
