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Gun violence is a public health crisis in Tennessee. Data prove it. | Opinion

Gun violence in Tennessee is a public health crisis.

Based on the most recent U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, we are 11th for firearm mortality, seventh for firearm homicide, and fourth for both youth gun death and gun homicides.

According to data reported by The Tennessean, Tennessee is currently fifth in the nation for women murdered by men, most often with a firearm and almost always by a man they know. Tennessee has ranked in the top 10 states for women murdered by men for the last decade.

Tennessee also has an ongoing problem with unintentional shootings involving children with access to negligently stored guns. In 2017, Tennessee led the nation in these types of shootings. There have been 25 of these incidents this year, resulting in the deaths of eight kids.

The correlation between guns and suicide is strong

Approximately two-thirds of Tennessee gun deaths are suicides. On average, between one and two Tennesseans use a gun to take their own life every day. Although most gun suicide victims are older men, more young people are using guns to kill themselves. In 2017, Tennessee was 12th in the nation for youth firearm suicides.

More Tennesseans died as a result of gun violence in 2017 than any other year on record.

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Firearm injuries are also a problem. According to data from the Tennessee Department of Health, firearm injuries have increased dramatically over the last seven years. In 2010, there were 2,260 firearm injuries, a rate of 35.75 per 100,000 people. Compare that to 2017 when there were 3,192 firearm injuries, a rate of 47.53 per 100,000 people.

Unintentional firearm injuries are on the rise in Tennessee. In 2010, there were 941. In 2017, there were a staggering 1,836. Some firearm injuries are minor while others are life changing, resulting in paralysis or amputation and a lifetime of care. Many victims in Tennessee lack health insurance.

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Gun violence is expensive

If loss of life and debilitating injuries were not compelling enough, the cost of gun violence in our state is massive. The Gifford’s Law Center estimates that gun violence costs Tennesseans a staggering $6 billion every year, or $928 per resident.

Despite all of this, our legislature refuses to even acknowledge that Tennessee has a gun violence problem. Rather than strengthening gun laws, our lawmakers choose instead to loosen them year after year, refusing to listen to law enforcement and public health researchers, choosing instead to listen to the gun lobby, whose single solution to gun violence is more guns for more people to carry more places.

The evidence is compelling. States with stronger gun laws experience fewer gun deaths. But what about Chicago and their gun laws? When population rates are factored in, the city of Memphis has a higher murder rate than Chicago. In 2016, Chicago was eighth in the nation for homicides and Memphis was seventh. In 2018, Chicago was 12th and Memphis was fifth. Gun laws work.

Tennessee legislature must heed the data

It’s been seven years since the Sandy Hook school shooting in Connecticut. In that time, many states have been intentional in implementing gun law reform, expanding background checks, passing extreme risk protection orders, strengthening domestic violence dispossession laws and investing in evidence-based intervention programs. As we begin a new year and a new decade, Tennessee lawmakers must stand with their constituents and enact reforms that will make our schools, homes and streets safer.

The only thing we have to lose by not acting is more innocent lives.

Beth Joslin Roth is the Policy Director of The Safe Tennessee Project, a gun violence prevention organization focused on reducing the number of Tennesseans injured and killed by guns through research and advocacy for evidence-based policies, programs, and legislation.