This is Busted Pencils, fully-ledded education talk. Here are your hosts. Dr. Tim
Slecker and Dr. Johnny Lupinacci, educated educators talking education.
Ah, there it is, Friday Busted Pencils, fully-ledded education talk.
Educated Educator's Talking Education, Johnny TGBPF. Thank God, it's
Busted Pencils Friday. I forgot the eye in there.
Yeah, it's going to see you. You almost nailed it. You got almost got it.
Good try, man. It's Friday, though. Weekend is coming up. And Johnny, you know
what, though? We are closer, inclusive to Tuesday, April 30th, where we are
going to be in Madison, Wisconsin live broadcast, Monacoa Brewing Tap Room.
We're going to be there. And you know why we're going to be there? Because Busted
Pencils is sponsored by Monacoa Brewing Company who sued the state of
Wisconsin to end its parasitic voucher system that hurts public schools.
Monacoa Brewing Company is making Wisconsin great again. One beer at a time.
Check out Monacoa Brewing Company dot com to see where you can buy their
progressive beer. Yeah, Johnny, I'm getting it. I got my little email this morning
saying, you know, make sure you're ready to board your flight. I'll be leaving
out of here at Columbus, Ohio on Sunday getting in. And man, we're going to be
in town. Do a little work there. Do a live show Monday from the Madison
studio and then Monacoa Brewing Company on Tuesday. Everybody come on out.
Check it out. Yeah. Johnny and I are going to be there in person for real,
for real, like real life. We are. We are. And we love to, you know,
visit capitals and be around the action that happens because democracy
and action, you know, we're all about it, especially connecting its education.
And Tim, I don't want to spend. We'll get we'll get plenty of talk about the
fun next week. But we've got a great guest. Yeah, we do.
Following up on the conversation this week about school safety and all the,
all the, you know, Tom Foulery happening in capitals around our country,
but defenders of democracy are out there, right? And we had some collars
from Tennessee on Wednesday. And Tim, let's get right into it because we
got to spend some rest from Tennessee tonight. We do. In fact, tonight on
bus depensals, we are thrilled to welcome Tennessee State Representative
Gloria Johnson, a staunch advocate for public education and a dedicated
voice against the controversial decision to arm teachers and schools.
Representative Johnson is best known for her unwavering commitment,
student safety and educational integrity. She recently voted against the new
legislation that permits teachers to carry concealed firearms. And that's
missed a growing national debate.
Gloria, thank you for coming on bus depensals.
Absolutely. Happy to do it.
Oh, this, Johnny said that Tom Foulery, we're talking about this. It's a
Nashville, you know, the shows produced out of Madison, Wisconsin. Again,
another, you know, when you're talking about the attack on public education,
there's one thing, you know, can you just walk us through what the atmosphere
was like in the legislator of the day on the legislature in the, on that
day of that vote, you know, what are some our key arguments that you guys tried
to show some sense of insanity? So yeah, question one, what was the atmosphere
like? Well, the atmosphere, I mean, you know, there were a lot of parents
there, a lot of students, the students had organized two rallies that
week. They had shown up and did two rallies to let them know that they were
against that showed up with their teachers a lot of times. And, um,
everybody was very vocal about how they felt about this, about this bill.
And it was, it was came through the first year of session, which this 113th
was, the first year was last year. But that is right after the covenant
shooting happened. We would have been hearing it in April, uh, just after the
shooting. And so they tabled it that year. Um, but then it came through our
Senate. And then we knew that they were going to pull it off the table in the
house. So it was very sneaky. The way they did it because we didn't know when
they were going to do it. But people had to show up every day because they
could have pulled it off the table at any point. So people showed up every day
until they pulled it off the table. Um, the day, you know, before session was
ending and then put it on the calendar for that, that last day. So
there were people in that in the, in the, um, gallery. And as soon as that
vote passed, it just erupted. And they started chanting the highway patrol
removed everyone from the gallery. It was just a mess. And people were in tears.
One of our members could not stop crying and had to go into the one of the
Clarks offices just off the floor to just compose herself because
it's so emotional for us. Well, I think I saw some of that. I mean, so
you, I mean, the people who were there supporting the, you know, trying to
say, no, don't vote on, you know, vote, vote against this.
They were, they were removed. I mean, to me, it's, it's, they
did nothing except they were there. Right. We look up sometimes and they're
moving people out of the gallery and we're like, I didn't hear a thing. You
know, what happened? Why are they removing them? And they'll get the press out
too oftentimes. It's just remarkable. How, I mean, you know, it's true,
what they say, democracy dies in the dark. And when folks are not there
watching what's happening in the Tennessee state legislature, we are,
we are losing our democratic norms day by day.
Well, they say we come here every night too Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday
Friday and busted pencils. And we talk about that because we, we talk about
public education, the foundation of democracy and making sure that
there, I mean, you a former teacher, thank you too for all of that work
because they, you know, we're out there. And in fact, you're an example of what
Johnny really is pushing saying, Hey, teachers, if you can step up
and take on this whole role of, you know, putting yourself out there,
whether it's to run for school board, local, you know, local council,
all the way state count, all the way, but just doing that active
membership, but you're a teacher. I wonder though,
what do you think this law will do to the classroom environment if,
well, and it's not if you're governor, he's, did he sign it already or he,
oh, he, there's a march tomorrow from one of the parks to his house.
And he, and it was to ask him not to sign it. He signed it today before
people march to his house. And I'm not going to be a national, but I said,
I hope y'all are marching anyway. And so I think that I'm pretty sure that
they will. Yeah. Just horrific. And and already,
I think about 10 counties have come out and said,
we're not doing it. It's, you know, I'd like to see the other 90,
you know, or 85 counties come out and say the same thing. I hope they do.
Just to be a big, you know, in your face to those guys,
because we kept telling them they talk to, they'll talk to two or three people that
want it. And then they'll step stop talking to people.
There is no question that the majority of families or teachers or students
do not want this. You know, one, some of the things that I talked about,
you asked about how we thought this. And for me, I'm like,
teachers already do four jobs. Their teachers, their social workers,
their nurses, their counselors. And now you want to make them
security as well. And they get paid crappy for the one job that they do.
I mean, Tennessee teachers are making less today than they did 10 years ago
when you take into consideration cost of living.
And now, and this bill is so bad, you guys.
This bill says that the teacher will carry the gun on them at all times,
except when they're in the gym or at the football field.
And I'm like, well, what do you do with your gun if you're going to the gym?
What do you do with your gun if you're going to the football field?
Where's the safe place? You're going to store that weapon.
It's, it's just ludicrous. And if you're teaching second graders,
you hear a noise out in the hall. Are you supposed to leave your class and go
check and see what that noise is? And maybe step out in the hall to
with your pistol to somebody who's got an AR 15 and a couple of other
weapons. You're asking a teacher to go to their death.
And then you talk about like in New York, in a back and forth gun battle,
police are only about 18% accurate. Now, I didn't want to
teach her with one tenth of the training is going to be like.
And I say it all the time and it's true. I feel this way.
If you are a teacher and you want to carry a gun,
you might not need to be in a school. That's right.
Johnny, well, yeah, we thought about this. You say,
nothing about this increases safety. This absolutely actually increases the likelihood
that somebody is going to get hurt. We had a couple of calls. We had a Tennessee teacher
call us the other night too. And just say it's just like, it's not a matter of if it's a when
it will happen. And Gloria, you talked about one of the situations where something will happen.
Okay, I got to go to the gym. I got to put my gun down. And that gun now,
where you're going to put it, who knows? But in in a moment,
that gun is probably going to be left unattended. And then imagine what happens then,
and then imagine how the teacher then has to live with the situation like that.
We had was it Larry, Johnny, who called from Tennessee. And he's just like, he's like, you know,
I'm not going to do it. You know, I'm just not going to do it. He said, and if there is one thing,
he's like, you know, it's bad enough. I already every day, I'm trying to convince myself why I
shouldn't quit. And he's like, this is just one of those things. This is just driving him in that
direction, Johnny, right? Yeah. Well, and I'm glad to hear Gloria say, you know, to give us a first
hand account of the resistance to it, the opposition to it. And then, and then also to hear, and we
had touched on this. Tim, I remember I said, I hate to just, there's no silver lining in this.
But I was saying listeners like, like, don't get this wrong. There will be some local autonomy in
this districts will be able to say no, no to this school leaders will be able to say no districts will
be able to say no. So that's not me, the condoning that this is a great political, you know, time well
spent. It's, it's absolutely not. But, you know, Gloria telling us like they're already are 10.
And hopefully many more to come. So they'll listen to teachers, they'll listen to families,
you know, good school leaders that are out there will say, you know, this is not, this is not what
we want in our, in our schools. This is not a solution. Yeah. I think that one of the things that
really just with these guys that they can't understand is that we want to prevent the guns from
ever getting to the schoolhouse doors. We want red flag laws and safe storage laws and reporting
of lost and stolen weapons. We want to make sure that guns never get in the hands of dangerous
people and never get to the schoolhouse door. They want to bring the gun battles into the classroom.
By arming a teacher in a classroom, you are literally bringing the gun battle into the classroom.
How they don't see this is just remarkable to me. They have no idea what goes on in a classroom
in the day. They have no idea what goes on in the school building and they are foolish, but they
just can't stop themselves from doing one ignorant thing after another. A guest state representative
for Tennessee, Gloria Johnson, busted pencils, fully let it education talk. Number 855752482,
if you want to jump in, give us a call. When we get back though to glory, I want this constitutional
right. I heard that being thrown out there as the reality. More with
busted pencils, fully let it education talk. Educated educator is talking education.
And numbers 8557524842, we are joined by Tennessee State Representative Gloria Johnson.
No vote voting no on giving teachers concealed carry guns. Didn't really matter,
though, Gloria. As you said, you're the opposition. They just couldn't help themselves.
I wonder, though, too. I was listening to one of the opposition and he framed it this way. It was just
like, look, it's not it's not about arming teachers or not. He's just like, I am just making sure
that I am making the federal constitution apply in that anybody should have the right to carry a
firearm. You know, he goes, it's not my place to say whether or not it should be a school or not.
Our job is to enforce the federal constitution. And so the reason why we want teachers to have
guns and it didn't to me, he's like, it's totally removed from safety. You know, he was just like,
look, it's their right to carry a gun. And we should make sure that people's rights, particularly
in Tennessee, those school teachers, they have a right to carry a gun. And I want to make sure
that that right is given to them. Bless their hearts. They also say, they also say sometimes it's
a God-given right. And I totally miss that part of the Bible where God gives you a right to carry a
firearm. But the Constitution, let's talk about the Tennessee Constitution first. The Tennessee
Constitution, when it talks about guns, the article that talks about guns says that you have a
right to carry firearms. And the legislature has the right to regulate guns for the safety of
the populace. They had a constitutional amendment this year to remove that part of our state
constitution. Did it pass? Constitutional amendments have to go through two sessions. And then,
yeah, so not yet. Okay. Just the idea that is just so ludicrous. Yeah. Well, that word regulation
is just something that, you know, your opposition, you know, I said, red Republicans, you know,
well, we got to do away with regulations. It's like, well, no, when we're talking about safety,
we're thinking with this, though, too. I mean, what the Democrats in Tennessee, what were you
trying to offer instead of guns? Well, I want to go back a little bit to the also our Constitution,
the US Constitution, does they well regulate it? Well, they forget that part as well. But what we
were offering, well, and one thing that nobody talks about, because this was kind of kept a little
bit quiet, but it's a fact, there were two armed staff at covenant when that shooting took place.
That were there were armed for security purposes, but they weren't able to stop anything.
But what we were offering is prevention, stopping the guns from ever getting to the school house door,
red flag laws that take that remove guns away from people who are dangerous.
Also, safe storage laws and consequences, if someone gets your gun and uses it in a crime,
because so many times, especially when it's younger people, they're getting these guns from
their parent's house or an uncle or, you know, somebody that's a relative or a friend.
And so we're trying to talk about that. We have already had past legislation for an SRO
in every school. I honestly think that there are better ways, and most of that comes through the
prevention end, because we haven't really seen, we've seen armed guards in school, dude, I think,
you know, or slink away from the situation. So what we really need to do is we need to
make sure that students have their social workers and counselors in our schools.
There was a school shooting in Central High School in Knoxville in 2008, when I was teaching there.
And it was one student who was new, was a foster student who came from a really,
who was just really a lot of upheaval from being removed from his family, putting in another home,
and it felt like this other kid was bullying him. And, you know, just a horrible situation,
and they did, you know, there was a shooting in the cafeteria that morning before school started.
And I can remember the kids running down that hill into my classroom,
which is screaming and terror on their faces, and just kind of trying to figure out what happened,
because they couldn't even talk about it when they first got in the room. And you don't ever forget,
I'll never forget that day. When I'm in a classroom still, and I hear sirens, I jump.
Because it just goes back to that day. And I'm sure that most of the people that were in that
building with me as well are experiencing some of the same things. But, you know, we've got to make
sure that kids have access to someone to talk to when they need to. Make sure that we're caring
for everyone's mental health. And, and then also make sure the dangerous people don't have weapons.
I was going to say, I mean, the whole gun control is just like, we're not going to even talk
about that. You know, as, as if it's like, sorry, we're going bad guys are going to get guns.
That's just the way it is. And therefore, we're going to make sure good guys have guns then too.
And you're saying they're going like, yeah, but what if bad guys couldn't get guns?
And, and you're only a good guy with a gun until you're not.
And that's what we also had. We also had one of the Republicans bring a bill saying that our local
counties could not write their own red flag or Erpo laws. They couldn't write them. So,
they took away the rights of locals because they won't do it. And then I think that's the next
thought is locals are going to go, well, we're going to do them locally then. Well, they preempted
them from being able to do it. And I asked, I'm sitting in the committee and I asked the sponsor
of the bill. I said, do you believe dangerous people should have weapons? No. You're taking away
the very thing that can remove weapons from dangerous people. You know, a lot of times it's where,
we had a particular incident in East Tennessee where a couple got divorced. A lot of stuff was
going on. The man didn't handle it well. He was fine until he wasn't fine. And ended up shooting
their son. And this is a situation where even if you go to the police, they can't do anything about
taking those guns away. Unless we have a policy in place that allows them to do that.
It's just the frustration you must go through. You know, say you're part of the Tennessee
three as you all have been now known across the country. And just seeing your colleagues too,
I don't know how you do it every day. We thank you for doing it more mostly too. The idea of
modeling for us with democracy looks like Gloria and modeling for educators that's saying, you know,
what, on issues, you know, we need educators in these positions because they don't listen to us.
You know, and even though you must be frustrated because they're not listening to you now,
but you're there. You're there and you're a model for teachers. So Gloria Johnson,
state representative from Tennessee, thank you so much. And if you ever need anything with
education, come back to busted pencils. We would love to have you on. And we really appreciate
you. And what we say to all of our guests, thank you for busting pencils. Thank you so much.
And I'm happy to come back anytime. Great. All right. Call me. Go home. Thank you.
Johnny and Tim will break it down and we got some collars when we get back busted pencils.
Yeah, we saw the seeds. See us through busted pencils fully let it education talk 8557524842. Thank you
to Tennessee State Representative Gloria Johnson for joining us to talk about that. Give us the insider
perspective of dealing with the insanity going on with Tennessee arming teachers got collars
mark from the sack mark your first. What's happening mark?
And yeah, thanks. Thanks. It's just remarkable to hear this kind of thing. I wonder how comfortable
those legislatures feel if there's somebody sitting up in the gallery there with that with the
AR 15 and every softening guy pulled the bolt back on to the here the chamber slamming shot
and wondering if they're ill bullets is going to be coming down upon their their sorry asses. I
mean that started to be high for bulk here, but it's just ridiculous. I mean, I've hunted my
entire adult life and was pretending I was hunting before that. I mean, but this is just it's
just ass nine that it is just for goodness sake, you can't even carry a camera in the in the
gallery of our state legislature. I mean that because you don't want pictures being taken of them
falling off sleep, you know, when they're sitting at their desk, twiddling their thumbs on me. It is
just I just can't imagine what is going through their heads and doing this kind of thing because
we're just another how many mass shootings have we had already this year? I mean, it is just
I just it's not going to solve the problem. No, Marcus said this has nothing to do with safety. We
know this everybody knows this. You know, so Mark, yeah, thanks for putting that out and you say
the frustration. It's not hyperbolic, man, it's just being real. LA Tom is on the line though too,
our friend LA Tom. What's happening, Tom? Hey, guys, first off, we the people ultimately are
the government and we must never forget that. We keep telling ourselves this every day. We actually
may get powered to the people and just things changed. Also, I would like to just in terms of
phrasing, you know, instead of calling something regulation, let's call it putting referees on the
field. Let's talk about sports in terms of what it is that if you want no referees to, you know,
be wrapping the game. I remember years ago Paul Ryan was pretty upset when Green Bay played
Seattle and there were some the sub-reffs were playing in Green Bay lost the game and there
was so mad, but there was no good officiating on the field. There was no good refs. And I thought,
wow, that's amazing. I thought you guys hated regulation. I thought you wanted it just to be
completely no referees on a field. So I would just like to, you know, say that when we talk about
regulation, we just, you know, change the terminology a little bit, you know, referees on the field,
that everybody I think could actually understand the analogy.
L.A. Tom, there you go. Coming back with a little bit of common sense. Johnny Lupinacci, though,
real, I mean, you think about this. Well, first of all, you got to love representative Johnson,
right? You know, special education. Oh, absolutely. I mean,
special education teacher all those years and now a state representative.
Yeah. And like we always said, we had Mitch on, you know, last week, talking about, you know,
the great things happening in the, you know, in the state politics of Michigan. And him saying,
it's having so many educators involved that that makes, you know, pathways for almost a
shorthand, you know, cross the aisles, you know, Republican Democrat really, you know, tends to
lean more heavily Democrat when we talk about supporting public education, but there are good
representatives out there across our states, you know, who are, you know, when it comes down to it,
you know, advocates of good schools and public school advocates. So it's great to hear from folks
who have teaching experience and a genuine passion for justice, you know, and the great work that
Gloria is doing down in Tennessee and also, you know, her, her, you know, her peers there
doing that hard work. So I'm excited. And, you know, selfishly, I'm always, I'm always pumped
when the premonition comes, comes true that we're going to find more defenders of democracy
who have a background in education, right? Who take on that civic duty and responsibility and
run for office because they can make huge change, huge change in things. And so, you know, this
is a really important stuff. And it is incredibly important that we're talking about, you know,
this week so much about safety in our schools and on our campuses and in our communities, right?
And educators, the bottom line, solution is not arming educators, right? That's just, that's just
not like we're going to put that one to rest. We're going to stay up with the story, you know,
and stay in touch with, you know, our, our friends in Tennessee, but across the country, like the
answer is, you know, not putting more guns into space is especially into schools. So, you know,
that's a huge piece. And I love that, you know, representative, you know, Johnson said this
tonight, she, like she really emphasized that your second amendment right to bear arms is not
threatened by regulation that says, you know, like, we're not going to have guns in schools.
So, like, right to bear arms doesn't come with the right to have no regulation of those,
those arms. And that's really, really important.
Well, I got to say, here's my right to bear arms right here, man. You like that?
Yeah. Yeah. Right. Right. Yeah. Right now.
Anybody want to know what are they talking about? Yeah. Tim and Johnny are flexing.
And I'm just putting them on the flex.
There's a lot to share. But I'll jump in.
Well, and Mark, you know, on you got this for us, 141 mass shooting so far in 2000.
And just 2024, just 2024. We're not even done with that year yet. It's only April.
We're not, yeah, we say we're not even six months in.
Yeah. You know, and you say it's just like, okay, again, nothing here.
I would, though, too. It was encouraging to hear from Gloria, though, that, you know,
so Governor Billy did sign the bill today. But, you know, the protest doesn't stop. Democracy
doesn't stop. Students and families are marching tomorrow from Nashville to the governor's house
in protest to see if he can now, you know, either take his signature off, but to make it known.
And so engaging in democracy, in civil disobedience, in peaceful protest, getting together.
I remember that, you know, right after Parkland, when Parkland did happen, and the shooting was
that, you know, there were lots of people organizing across the across all the country, you know,
trying to do, you know, marches in across the country to say, we want gun control in our schools.
Please, we want gun control. And I remember walking with the group of kids in Wisconsin,
50 miles, you know, they did 50 miles. They walked to Paul Ryan's house at that time. Paul Ryan
was the speaker. And they wanted regulation. You know, again, democracy, the people, the people
want this. That's the part that I think has got to be frustrating.
Tim, I, I, we use the word regulation a couple of different ways on this show. On Wednesdays,
we talk about it in a really different context that I like, we talk about the importance of
having a regulated nervous system of, you know, having our emotions and our rational thoughts
regulated and, and sort of balanced, you know, but I like this term when, when we talk about,
you know, deregulation or regulation and politics, I like, I like to break it down to everyday
language. Hey, this ain't anything, this ain't anything goes. Yeah. And that's, so I break it
down into that like, like, because, because that's basically what it breaks down to. It's like,
we are, we are not, no one signed up for anything goes community. Right. And that's, that's
mayhem. And so, and to have anything goes is, is problematic and nearly impossible. And so,
usually when we're pushing for deregulation, we're pushing for someone's particular way
of wanting things to be favored at the expense of others. That's not balanced. That's not common good.
So this, this effort to deregulation is really, you know, it, we're, when we talk about wanting to
have some regulation around guns, we're not talking about extreme banning of anybody being able
to have a firearm. Right. Right. We're, we're talking about some regulation, because I'll break it
again. Hey, you're saying it, this ain't anything goes. Right. This is not, like, this is not, you
know, this wide open, you could do whatever you want. That's not how it works. This is the third
round of rollerball with no rules. Yeah. And even, even the third round of rollerball has some rules.
Right. And so, that's what I'm talking about when we get down to this, you know, it's not
anything goes. So some regulation as noted by representative, you know, Gloria Johnson tonight
saying, like, hey, we want some regulation. There is in the state constitution of Tennessee,
also in the United States Constitution, you know, lines of text that say, with some regulation.
Yeah. And that's absolutely what we're here to talk about, democratic process of how we
move away from this. Come on, folks, this ain't anything goes. I don't think you want to play that
way just saying anything goes because it's not the people advocating for deregulation just want
their way to be favored. And that's a different set of rules. And I'm just wondering if you're
using Detroit lingo right there, John. I mean, I don't know what it is. Maybe I'm sure people
in Detroit know what I'm saying. But I think everywhere people can relate. Like this ain't,
this ain't anything goes. Yeah. You know, so, you know, students in a classroom,
when it's like, hey, we can do whatever we want. No, no, that's not. Yeah, choice. Yeah,
voice you can give input, but this ain't anything goes. It's not right. You know, you think about
this, too. It's like when regulations, right? Okay, we don't want regulations on guns. But boy,
they wanted in Tennessee, the people observing democracy happening. They wanted regulations on
the people observing to the point where they said regulations, get them out of here. So the people
were escorted out of the people's buildings because they were practicing democracy and saying,
we don't want you to vote in favor of giving teachers guns. Teachers don't want guns. Nobody wants
this. And guess what, though, the opposition there pulled some regulations and said, hey,
get these people out of here. They're breaking rules. Get them out of here. I like the phrase,
you know, representative Gloria Johnson said tonight, she said, democracy dies in the dark.
And so bearing witness to what's happening in our, you know, in our capitals, what's happening
in our communities, what's happening in in DC, you know, what's happening around the world,
democracy is participatory. And if we're not participating in it, then like she's like like
representative said, then it dies in the dark. It dies when, when our eyes aren't on it, when we're
not, you know, we're not participating in it. Now, what why I'm linking that to what you're saying
to him is there is a concerted effort to prevent people from participating to close the doors and
to have those decisions not be made public. And that is absolutely not only unconstitutional,
but anti-democratic at its finest, right? And so if democracy dies in the dark, then we can't
turn the lights off on it. But yet, we're constantly, and look, she was talking about people are
being removed from being able to just be observers, which everyone has a right to be doing, right? So
we have that problem. But again, linking it to last night's discussion, and we're, I'm going to save
some stuff for, you know, after next week when we have some really great guests coming on who are
experts on this topic, especially in related to education. But another day goes by and in
there are still news headline after news headline of things happening to students on campuses across
this country, right? And so it's really important that we don't turn the lights out on democracy,
that we don't turn against and we don't use violent force to subdue voices. We don't remove people,
you know, from the floor, bearing witness to decisions being made, important decisions like
should guns be in our classroom. We also don't remove people who are peacefully protesting for or
against anything, right? And so this is a really important moment in our current events that we're
here to talk about in terms of what does democracy look like? Well, folks, it's, it's an action
all over. I got a democracy in action headline right now. Uh-oh. And on the busted pencils,
Twitter site, or excellent, whatever you want to call it, LA Tom putting out there, Taylor Swift,
how would you please write a song about Tennessee teachers having to carry guns in public schools?
And also please endorse Gloria Johnson. There he goes. So LA Tom right there. So Taylor Swift,
we know you're listening to busted pencils. LA Tom would love for you to write a song about Tennessee
and the insanity of trying to force the teachers there to carry guns. You see that,
Johnny? I mean, democracy can happen everywhere, you know, and and busted pencils is your conduit
to democracy. It is right there. How? Yeah, there's a little bit of a bump there. Sorry about
that on you. Busted pencils fully let it education talk 855 7524842. I thought I was going to bring
my knee up and cross my leg, but my knee was under the desk and you heard the knee hitting the desk.
Yeah, you know, you're not hearing the scream that I would like to utter at this point right now,
because I'm not going to do that on the radio. Busted pencils fully let it education talk TGI BPF.
There it is, Johnny. It's saying that it's busted pencils Friday. One more segment when we get
back recap of the week and then leading into I'm in a Madison. Busted pencils fully let it back in a minute.
Ah, school. No, it's not out for summer yet. It's getting close. It's busted pencils fully
let it education talk educated educators talking education 8557524842. Yeah, it's Friday. Johnny,
we're coming down. We're getting closer and closer to that day. You know what's happening
that day, right, Johnny? You know what damn talking about. Oh, yeah, you that day when we show up at
Manakwa Brewery, you know why we're going to show up there, Johnny? Do you know why, Johnny?
Well, man, Tim, we got a live show. We're going to be, you know, meet and greet with the people,
live show, civic media is going to bring it on out. Anya is going to be there with us. Tim, you and I
will be there together sitting side by side having great conversations, but also having great beers
with the Manakwa Brewing Company. Busted pencils is sponsored by Manakwa Brewing Company. They sued
the state of what Wisconsin to end its parasitic voucher system that hurt public schools. Manakwa
Brewing Company is making Wisconsin great again. One beer at a time. Check out Manakwa Brewing
Company dot com to see where you can buy their progressive beer. And Tim, I got excited today
because you know, I live a little ways away and I'm excited to be over in the Midwest again and
especially, you know, to make my way through Milwaukee and the Madison community and the hangout
and to hoist them up high with the good hardworking people, especially the teachers that are going to
come out and join us, but I'll tell you what Tim, I also got excited because should I get a taste
of the beer and I'm gonna and I want and I want it when I'm home. They ship to 44 states. So,
so listeners out there. I know our local listeners already know about NBC, but if you're if you're a
distant listener and you're going to get extra jealous because you can't join us in person next
Tuesday, well, we'll we'll tell you it's good. We'll give you the stamp of approval and then you order
it online and you can get your NBC sent to you. So good stuff, Tim. I'm looking forward to it.
And I think there's still a giveaway linger and I don't think anybody who's reached out called
or sent a message to take a stab at what is what is the thing happening this weekend that Tim
Nordrani have ever done together. What is that thing that's happening? Does anybody gets that right?
You know, Tim's got a busted pencils t-shirt for you. We'll either mail it out to you or if you come
and join us in person, we'll hand you that bad boy on Tuesday. We got it for you. Yeah, I like
on you, though, too. Hey, Johnny, 44 states. I wonder if Menok were brewing companies going to think
about sending some to Finland for our listeners and I mean, I don't think you can ship liquids overseas,
but it's possible. It would I don't know that you can do international shipping, but I'm also
speaking way out of pocket on this one. I have no time shipping books to other countries. I
can't even imagine if I was shipping liquids. We can get some of that woke coffee to them, though,
I bet. Um, yeah, maybe some some of the beans. Man, I can't wait to try that woke coffee. I mean,
you know, I'm a caffeine junkie and I'm also I was woke. So I can't wait to bring those two
things together on Tuesday. Uh, it's busted pencils fully. Let it education talk, educated,
educators talking education Friday. Yeah, wrapping it up, though, at a great guest today,
typically we do news and round out the week, but representative Gloria Johnson from Tennessee
was able to come on the show, talk about the insanity going on and that went on in Nashville this
week by signing legislation. And we just found out the governor did sign it today. So it is law
that in the state of Tennessee, uh, teachers can can seal carry. They have to go through there,
there there are some regulations. They have to go through to get that. It is encouraging, though,
to to hear representative Johnson say that a lot of local communities are saying, yeah,
we're just not going to do it, though. We're not going to do it. And and to hear that, I am worried
though about that, you know, setting up that dynamic where people have to now say, I don't want
to do it. And then potentially being faced with pressure from outsiders going, but it's the law.
And now I want you to do it. It was like, this is why we didn't want to even get to this point,
which is, you know, you don't want to have these arguments. And again, as a teacher, Gloria,
as a teacher, you know, we had Larry the bat, the badass teacher from Tennessee calling us on one
say, this is boy, you want to continue having a teacher shortage or a teacher exodus. This is one
of those things that's going to put a bunch of teachers over the edge and going, that's it. I'm
done. I cannot do it anymore. You already had me doing is Gloria pointed out four different
jobs already on top of teaching. And now I'm an armed guard in a classroom. And my role is to
step out of my room and shoot bad guys. I didn't sign up for this. I didn't sign up for this.
I signed up to be a teacher. I wanted to make a difference in the lives of kids in communities
with families. I wanted to be a role model in public schools. I wanted to be an advocate for
democracy. I was not signing up to be an armed guard taken out bad guys with guns. Bad guys shouldn't
be able to get guns and then bring them into schools. Why would we drop out of trying to do
what's right? This is the kind of some people going, but Tim, you're just not going to stop a bad
guy getting a gun. Why not? Why not? Why don't we try? How about we try stopping bad guys
from getting guns? You're right. Some of them will get them, but we should try to stop them.
And every one bad guy stopped from getting a gun. That's a success. That's a win. You don't just
say, well, we're just going to let the bad guys get guns because our defense for bad guys,
all the good guys got guns now too. And then as Gloria did, she pointed this out too.
What happens when good guys with guns decide to become bad guys?
Yeah, that's the thing I like, Tim. It's the idea is like more guns in these spaces isn't
to answer. We should do a whole another show talking about with people in community who are
proposing alternatives to this because you know, I don't want us to just even far listeners
fall into the, well, this is crazy, but it's also happening. And so we talk about like what are
some of the practical on the ground solutions? Because saying no is probably the best thing we could
do. But then saying, okay, what do we do as an alternative? Like how do we break it down
to the on the ground ways that this could be done differently in terms of what would make our
community safer, right? And so let's, we'll definitely do a follow up. It's been a big week.
You know, democracy is in action. It's happening everywhere. There's a lot going on.
You know, we're really proud of all the people who are coming out to say no to war anywhere.
And we'll be together this weekend and we'll be live from the studio on Monday, live at Monaco
Brewing on Tuesday. Tim, it's good to bust pits with you this week. My guy, let's do a live next week.
Yeah, live next week. Busted pencils. Yeah. On location. Come on out.
Little costume. Anything. Either you just come on out and hang out. It's busted pencils, man.
Loving the week. And I say, you know, starting off next week right away in Madison.
Yes, sir. All right, everybody. Have a great weekend and bust those pencils.