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Fewer guns were stolen from cars in 2024 than in 2023, breaking a persistent Nashville trend

Paige PflegerWPLN News
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For the first time in several years, fewer guns were stolen from cars in Nashville in 2024 by comparison to 2023.

Guns being stolen from cars been a persistent problem since 2013, when the state legislature passed a law that allowed guns to be carried in cars like an extension of someone’s home.

National data shows that guns being stolen from cars is more prevalent in Tennessee’s cities, like Memphis, Chattanooga and Nashville, than in other parts of the country.

More: Nashville teens are ‘car hopping’ – trying unlocked car doors to see what they can find. Often, it’s guns.

The Metro Nashville Police Department reported that 928 guns were stolen from cars in 2024 – more than 281 fewer firearms than in 2023. It’s the lowest number the city has recorded since 2019.

MNPD says a new initiative that began in February 2024 resulted in more than 1,000 arrests and the recoveries of more than 500 stolen vehicles and more than 200 guns.

Democrats in the Tennessee state legislature have repeatedly tried to pass legislation to combat stolen guns, including safe storage bills. But those bills have failed when brought to the Republican supermajority.

Paige Pfleger, Criminal Justice Reporter

Paige Pfleger covers criminal justice for WPLN News. She has investigated guns and juvenile justice as a fellow with ProPublica's Local Reporting Network, and her investigation into domestic violence and firearms dispossession won a regional Edward R. Murrow award and was a finalist for an Investigative Reporters and Editors Award and a Livingston Award. She previously covered criminal justice and addiction in Ohio and was named the state's reporter of the year by the Associated Press. Her work has appeared nationally on NPR, The Washington Post, Marketplace, and PRI's The World, and she has worked in the newsrooms of The Tennessean, Michigan Radio, WHYY, Vox and NPR headquarters in DC.

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