Newly-elected District 59 State Rep. Caleb Hemmer and District 21 State Sen. Jeff Yarbro, who last week announced his bid for Nashville mayor, have proposed a new bill aimed at holding gun owners accountable when their guns are stolen from vehicles.
The bill would require a person to keep firearms “from ordinary observation and locked within the trunk, utility or glove box, or a locked container securely affixed to the motor vehicle or boat” when a vehicle is unoccupied, and require them to report a loss or theft of a firearm within 24 hours of discovery of the missing weapon.
A violation would result in a Class C misdemeanor which would only be punishable by the completion of a court-approved firearm safety course.
“We want to make sure that this is done in a way that is effective and in a way that works,” Hemmer said, adding that he is himself a gun owner.
On Feb. 14, the Metro Nashville Police Department announced that 149 guns, or 77% of total reported stolen guns so far this year in Nashville, have been taken from vehicles.
Tennessee State Rep. Caleb Hemmer
In an interview with The News, Hemmer specifically cited the 2019 murder of 24-year-old Nashville musician Kyle Yorlets in a shooting and armed robbery that involved five juveniles aged 12 to 16 years old who committed the crime with a stolen vehicle and stolen gun.
Hemmer also spoke of his own personal experience as a student at Nashville’s John Trotwood Moore Middle School in 1994 when an accidental shooting claimed the life of 13-year-old Terrance Murray in what was the first and only instance of fatal gun violence in a Metro Nashville Public School.
“I have the scars of this everyday, so I want to make sure that people lock up their guns and be responsible gun owners,” Hemmer said. “This is a really big self-inflicted wound that we have in this state and something that we can do something about pretty easily.”
“It’s genuinely a no-brainer to stop leading the nation in letting criminals get free guns out of unlocked cars,” Yarbro said in a Facebook post. “Proud to be working with Rep. Caleb Hemmer on a solution.”
Hemmer said that he has had conversations with local law enforcement agencies and has earned the support of Moms Demand Action, a group focused on promoting public safety measures related to guns and gun violence, but added that he did not hear back from either the Tennessee Firearms Association or the National Rifle Association when he attempted to get their input on the bill.
“We need to do something better, doing nothing is not going to work anymore,” Hemmer said. “So we need to do something to help Tennesseans create some accountability for their actions and be more safe in terms of their firearm storage.”
Last week also saw an announcement from the Biden administration and the U.S. Justice Department of an investment of more than $231 million in funding to 49 states, territories and the District of Columbia as part of the Byrne State Crisis Intervention Program, with the goal of reducing gun violence nationally.
“The Justice Department is working relentlessly to protect communities from violent crime and the gun violence that often drives it, and the Byrne State Crisis Intervention Program is an important part of that effort,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a news release. “These awards will support the kinds of crisis intervention programs that we know save lives and help protect children, families, and communities across the country from senseless acts of gun violence.”
Sen. Jeff Yarbro (D-Nashville) at a 2022 abortion rights protest
Tennessee has been awarded, but has not yet accepted, the announced $6,722,537 marked for the state.
In 2021, the state implemented a year-long sales tax holiday on gun safes which was extended until June 30, 2023.
2021 also saw the introduction of the state’s permit-less handgun bill that was signed into law by Governor Bill Lee in a ceremony inside of Berretta USA’s firearms factory in Gallatin.
“”We’ve seen a tremendous amount of juvenile crime in our county and our neighboring city to the north, Nashville. It’s been a huge problem, juvenile crime has been a huge problem, and thefts of guns have been one of the primary catalysts for breaking into cars and stealing cars to get the guns that people leave in their cars,” then-BPD Police Chief Jeff Hughes said in 2021.
“Overall, this is a uniquely-bad Tennessee problem,” Hemmer said on the growing numbers of gun thefts from vehicles. “It’s literally putting guns in the hands of criminals.”
2020 and 2021 saw gun sales spike across the United States, including in Williamson County, in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, an explosion of protests for racial justice in 2020 and the election of President Biden.
According to the group Everytown for Gun Safety, which utilizes data provided from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in 2020, Memphis, Chattanooga, Jackson and Nashville were ranked first, second, fourteenth and fifteenth, respectively, for the highest reported gun thefts from cars in the country.
The greater debate over guns continues as last month saw the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) issue a new controversial rule meant to further regulate guns equipped with stabilizing braces, a move that has caused uproar within the greater gun-rights community.