This article was prepared for the local propublica reporting network in partnership with Public Radio WPLN/Nashville. Sign up for sending To get such stories as soon as they are published.
Two Republican legislators in Tennessee have launched a legislation aimed at protecting the victims of family violence, demanding more transparency from the people who was ordered to abandon weapons.
Introduction of the bill follows The law on minor weapons and forced execution allow the firearms to remain in the hands abusers Who was forbidden to keep them, including those who continued to kill their victims. In Tennessee, if someone is convicted of accusation of family violence or is subject to defense, they are not allowed to own a pistol.
Tennessee is one of the dozen states that allows the one who orders the weapon to give them a third person, such as friends or relatives. And this is one of the united states that do not require a person to be identified in court without leaving the legal system to check on them. Someone may say they have abandoned weapons, but still have access to them, they say that victims of family violence are saying.
Recent WPLN and PROPUBLICA reports emphasized the work Rural District Scott, which revolutionized its approach to reducing domestic violenceIn part, demanding to include forms of discussion weapons to include the names of people who receive firearms.
State Representative Kelly Keyling, Republican representing Scott’s District and State Senator Beck Massey, R-Knoxville, now want to take this change across the country. Massey pointed to the report WPLN and PROPUBLICA about Scott District as an inspiration for the bill. But she said it was unclear what the chances of the state’s republican supermage.
“The kiss of death to the bill is to say that it will be easy,” said Massey. “Time will tell. You don’t know if you can achieve something if you don’t try. But I mean, it doesn’t change the law. They have to unite. So, this is just a question of what form looks. “
While making changes to a public form is a simple step, it can have a great payment, said Christie Chernes, which has worked for decades in the field of violence in the Scott family and manages the County Family Justice Center that helps the victims.
Stands out from this series
“You’re kidding me!” The excited harness said she heard the news about the bill. “My God. How strange for victims across the state. “
Tennessee consistently has one of the highest rates of women killed by men, and most of these murders are carried out by weapons. Analysis of WPLN and PROPUBLICA according to the killings and court records showed that from 2007 to 2024 almost 40% of those killed in the family fir .
“If they were unable to keep possession of this firearm, or it was given to whom we could check, then we may have made this extra step to save someone’s life,” said Harnes.
Studies have shown that family violence cases are very likely to become deadly if a firearm is involved. And the danger also spreads to the house – one study showed that calls for domestic violence are one of the most dangerous for law enforcement agencies, and researchers have found that mass shootings often have the history of domestic violence.
Demanding the name and address of third owners in the case of dyspecia, “it is an additional protection against the peace of the victims,” said Judge Scarleta Ellis, who controls the court in the Scott family. “There is a little more accountable.”
Ellis said no one refused to fill, sign or return the supplemented form in rural, conservative, other amendment, as did her. Over the last two presidential election, Scott voted in favor of Donald Trump to the highest percentage of any Tennessee county.
“This is just a clear example of when the community lags behind the implementation of the law, it doesn’t matter how big you are, how small you are – the changes can be made,” Ellis said.
