The latest statistics on gun fatalities in Tennessee are in, and the adjectives that come to mind include alarming, depressing and frustrating. What they are not is surprising.
Without diving too deep into the figures, the results show:
• From 2013 to 2023, the last year for which full figures are available, the rate of overall firearm fatalities increased 41%, and the rate of overall firearm fatalities for children through age 17 increased 128%.
• Tennessee is seventh in the nation for overall firearm fatalities for all ages.
• On average, 2.4 Tennesseans use guns to take their own lives every day.
• Guns are the leading cause of death for Tennessee children.
“The No. 1 cause, the No. 1 cause of death for children and teenagers in Tennessee is gunshot wounds,” says State Sen. Heidi Campbell. “Let that sink in.”
Campbell and Beth Joslin Roth, a researcher on her staff, held a Zoom-type news conference on the subject last week. It was an effort to call attention to what ought to be considered a public health crisis, but in Tennessee qualifies as a worthwhile cost “so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights.”
That’s how the late Charlie Kirk characterized the situation after the six gun deaths at Nashville’s Covenant School in 2023. Before himself becoming one of those costs.
And whether they say so or not, that’s the attitude of the Republican supermajorities in the legislature. Thoughts and prayers for victims and their families, sure, but hey: Liberty!
As a Democrat, Campbell is on the other side of that divide. She introduced eight bills relating to gun safety in this year’s legislative session. Among them were prohibiting the possession of an assault weapon and making it a misdemeanor to store a gun in a way that allows a minor to access it and take it to a school. None got anywhere.
“There’s so much that could be done,” she says. “That’s why we run legislation every year that would make Tennessee much safer, and every single year these bills die in committee. They don’t even get a second.”
I’ve seen that legislation die myself, even when a bill does manage to come up for discussion. As you may know, Nashville is a reliable source of guns for criminals, with thefts from vehicles a continuing and growing problem. A problem that was created – or at least made worse – by the legislature itself, by making it legal for people to leave guns in unoccupied vehicles.
Last year, State Sen. Jeff Yarbro introduced a bill to encourage – not mandate, but encourage – safe storage.
“This bill creates no penalty, it authorizes no penalty,” Yarbro, another Democrat, told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. “It’s purely a carrot-based approach. There’s no sticks involved.”
The bill would have authorized some local governments to regulate the storage of a firearm in an unoccupied vehicle. The “carrot” was immunity against civil liability for people who complied with the rules if their guns were still stolen. It failed 7 to 2.
Campbell says such results are part of a decadelong campaign.
“Republican lawmakers have torn down nearly every safety measure that we once had and the result is predictable,” she says. “It’s more shootings, it’s more fatal suicides and it’s more dead children. It’s just not sane.”
Roth, the researcher, mentioned various steps that could be helpful, including community-based violence-interruption programs.
“There really has to be a comprehensive approach,” she says. “There is no – pardon the pun – but there is no silver bullet for this problem.” She adds: “In our state, anything that we could do – any just baby steps that could save a life – is worth considering.”
What has happened instead? Lawmakers have strengthened the shield protecting gun makers and sellers against civil liability claims, thereby “fostering a robust marketplace to ensure ready access to arms and accompanying accoutrements,” as the law reads.
“Ready access to guns” is what we’re about here in Tennessee.
A participant in the call asked about another bill passed this year requiring the teaching of gun safety in public schools. Campbell’s response added several examples to my list of appropriate adjectives.
“I think it’s awful that we are looking at those types of solutions juxtaposed to actually addressing the root problem, and expecting children to take the responsibility for protecting themselves,” she says. “That is just so absolutely dysfunctional and wrong.”
School children should be thinking about learning and social interaction and all manner of other things, she says, “and instead they are spending a good deal of their time thinking about gun violence. And that is really sad. That’s just sad.”
Joe Rogers is a former writer for The Tennessean and editor for The New York Times. He is retired and living in Nashville. He can be reached at jrogink@gmail.com