Data released in January by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that Tennessee was one of 21 states that had more gun-related deaths than vehicular deaths in 2014.
Gun-related deaths increased from 865 in 2004 to 1,020 in 2014, according to the CDC. During the same time period, vehicle-related deaths declined from 1,191 in 2004 to 906 in 2014. The information takes into account suicides, homicides and accidental shootings.
“To me that was surprising,” Loudon County Sheriff Tim Guider said about the report. “It caught me by surprise. I wouldn’t have thought that just in your every-day dealings, every-day happenings, I wouldn’t have thought people are killed more by firearms than traffic accidents.”
In 2014 and 2015 combined, LCSO only reported three gun-related deaths, two of which were the result of a suicide, Guider said.
Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Public Information Officer Josh DeVine said in an email correspondence that law enforcement agencies in Loudon County reported one murder and no negligent manslaughters and justifiable homicides in 2014. Numbers for last year were not available but will be released in the next two or three months, DeVine said.
Data was collected through the Tennessee Incident Based Reporting System that is used by state law enforcement departments to report to TBI.
“The president, you can quote the president saying that if all these efforts save one life it’s worth it, and I think that education has a lot to do with it,” Loudon Police Chief James Webb said. “As far as the manufacturers are concerned, they’re mandated already by federal law, if you purchase a new firearm now — or a handgun anyway — it has to have some type of locking device, but the locking device doesn’t do any good if the people that own the firearm don’t utilize it.”
Increased interest?
While LCSO does not offer a gun safety course for individuals in the community, Guider said the department does share information through nearly 20-year part-time deputy Leon Shields, who conducts firearm carry permit classes and other self-defense courses.
Shields said since shootings occurred in 2008 at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universality Church in Knoxville and in 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School, more people seem to be seeking handgun carry permits.
“It brought to the home front in our communities — Knox County, Loudon County, Monroe, McMinn, Rhea, Blount — it brought it home to these folks saying, ‘Hey, it can happen here’,” he said.
“And then I think, of course, when you read the paper, when crime increases, drugs increase, thefts increase,” he added. “I think all that crime kind of builds back with that because most of those crimes has had a firearm involved in it, and, of course, when you’re looking at the local media, every time you see a school shooting, a church shooting, some kind of home invasion — I think a lot of the American public is a little bit more aware of, ‘Hey, it’s come to a point that I need to start thinking about self-defense’.”
Shields said the misuse of firearms can be traced back to “negligence,” whether guns are obtained legally or not.
“I think education is important, and it always has been,” Shields said. “There’s a lot of people that want to learn (information in) the class, but they don’t pass along what they learned, and then you have the other part — I kind of call negligence. The negligence parts are the people that don’t want to do the legal aspect of firearms, don’t want to abide by the laws, don’t want to — the course is set up to train to keep that firearm away from an unauthorized person or individual.”
Shields said while some people obtain permits for self-defense, residents should be mindful to keep firearms away from an “unauthorized person,” such as a child.
“You’ve got to educate these folks, and I think the ones that’s causing a lot of the true harm is negligence whether they’ve got it the legal way or whether they possessed that firearm or that crime the illegal way,” Shields said. “I think it’s just personal negligence on their part or the individuals around it.”
In order to obtain a handgun carry permit, Shields said residents need to complete a safety course. The eight-hour Tennessee safety course is provided once per month on Saturdays at LCSO. The cost for the course is $50. For more information, call 865-986-4823.
The class, which is conducted through the Tennessee Department of Safety, is “very structured,” Shields said. Students learn about handling drills, storage drills and the laws that are currently in place.
Shields said residents sometimes attend courses just to keep up to date on laws, which “change about every year.”
“Used to you were not allowed to carry your firearm into an establishment that sold or served alcohol,” Shields said. “Well, the law has changed now to where you can walk into those restaurants that serve or sell alcohol, but you’re not allowed to consume alcohol while in the possession of a firearm. So just that one law — of course, there’s numerous — but just that one law is an example of what the class teaches.”
Shields said current state laws are “very restrictive” in regards to the purchase or sale of a firearm.
“I think those laws have always been kind of set in stone, very restrictive, and we’re trying to keep the legal citizens legal,” he said. “Where your problems are the people that are not the law-abiding citizens that just — they’re not taking that law to their personal guard at all, and they’re just doing what they want. But the legal stores, the legal distributors, the legal permit holders, you typically don’t see issues out of that in the media, on the news in these local shootings, this or that.
“I mean the legal citizens are really paying attention to the law just for the simple fact they’re going through the process to obtain that permit legally,” he added.
Boost in business
Allen Maddox, owner of Lenoir City-based Allen’s Guns and Leather off U.S. Highway 321, said business last year was “very good.” Sales were up from 2014.
“You got to remember in 2013 they had that big boon on guns, so 2014 slowed down, which means 2015’s going to pick back up,” Maddox said. “So anything over ‘14 would have been a pickup. Business is going real well.”
In order to purchase a gun, Maddox said a person must supply a driver’s license, give their physical address, fill out Form 4473 with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and pass a background check.
Each year “more and more” females are seeking handgun carry permits and the eventual purchase of a firearm, Maddox said. The reason for the trend could be for great awareness of their surroundings and seeking self-defense, he said.
“I would say probably the increase of amount of crime that they’re having to deal with and the things that they’re seeing happen on the news, paper and everywhere, people getting — women getting grabbed and just a little everything,” Maddox said. “They’re more observant about self-defense.”
