Williams: Combating Threats Starts At Home

The rise in school threats seen across the Upper Cumberland need to be addressed not just in schools but at home as well.

This from Representative Ryan Williams who said it is a difficult issue to combat because many of the problems that lead a student to threaten a school may come from home and not school. Williams said people need to help young people understand the severe consequences of these threats.

“What we have to do is be a better community and help meet the needs of these individuals,” Williams said. “But, you know, the law can only do so much. The statute can only do so much. At some point in time we’re going to have to deal with the heart of the matter and the lack of moral aptitude as it relates to students and how we can change the tide for that.”

Williams said it is important for people to know that these threats are dangerous and come with long-term consequences. Williams said he was part of a recent change to the law making it so that students who make a school threat cannot buy a gun until they turn twenty-five.

“(I) led the charge with the (House Speaker Cameron Sexton) in order to do that,” Williams said. “It’s one of the few prohibitor bills as it relates to young individuals.”

Williams said the change is a significant legal step as Tennessee is one of only three republican-leaning states to enact such a policy.

Williams said that despite these problems Putnam County officials are working hard to successfully protect local citizens.

“Sheriff Farris and his staff and Cookeville Police Department (have) done a phenomenal job handling the issues we’ve had,” Williams said. “Obviously there have been no incidents.”