Amends TCA Title 49, Chapter 6.

Present law authorizes an LEA to offer a noncompulsory gun safety class or program for students in elementary school. If an LEA offers a gun safety class or program, then the LEA may incorporate, in the class or program, the rules and principles of gun safety developed by an organization specializing in firearms training and safety that the local board of education finds appropriate to incorporate. Present law prohibits the use or presence of live ammunition or life fire in the course of instruction. This bill rewrites the above and instead requires the department of education and the department of safety, in conjunction with the fish and wildlife commission, to determine the earliest grade in which it is appropriate for students to begin receiving instruction on firearm safety. In determining the earliest appropriate grade for instruction on firearm safety, the departments will study all relevant data and risk factors, including but not limited to, the earliest age at which incidents of injury involving firearms are reported and the earliest age at which children are susceptible to harm from found firearms. Beginning with the 2022-2023 school year, this bill requires each LEA and public charter school to provide students annually with age-appropriate and grade-appropriate instruction on firearm safety. This instruction must begin with the earliest appropriate grade, as determined by the departments, and must continue in each subsequent grade through grade 12. The instruction must: (1) Teach students how to avoid injury if the student finds a firearm; to never touch a found firearm; and to immediately notify an adult of the location of a found firearm; (2) Be viewpoint neutral on political topics, such as gun rights, gun violence, and the second amendment to the United States constitution; (3) Be provided in one fifteen-minute period; and (4) Not include the use or presence of live ammunition, live fire, or live firearms. This bill requires the department of education and the department of safety, in conjunction with the fish and wildlife commission, to develop or approve a curriculum or program of instruction on firearm safety that meets the requirements of this bill and that LEAs and public charter schools are required to implement for purposes of providing the instruction. The departments must not approve a curriculum or instruction if the curriculum, program of instruction, or any other instructional materials used as part of the curriculum or program of instruction bear a brand or organizational affiliation. The instruction may be provided in a classroom setting, through the viewing of a video, or through the review of online resources or materials, as determined by the department of education. Each LEA and public charter school will determine how best to incorporate the instruction into the school year. Additionally, under the Schools Against Violence in Education (SAVE) Act, this bill adds "policies and procedures for annual school safety training for students, teachers, and other school personnel" to the list of items that the template for safety and emergency response plans must include. This bill specifies that the instruction created by the bill must be credited toward the annual school safety training required by the state-level safety's team template for district-wide school safety plans and building-level school safety plans for all students, teachers, and other school personnel who receive or provide the instruction.