The number of guns stolen from cars in Nashville this year has officially surpassed last year’s total. And with dozens of guns stolen per week, the total will only continue to climb.
According to MNPD data, 1,306 guns have been stolen from cars so far this year. That’s more than any year since the police department started tracking the problem over a decade ago — and only includes guns that have been reported missing.
The numbers began to increase after 2013, when legislators passed a law that allowed gun owners to treat their cars like an extension of their home when it comes to carrying.
But law enforcement and gun control advocates alike warned that Tennessee’s 2021 permitless carry law would likely only make matters worse.
Even Nashville Police Chief John Drake urged the governor not to sign permitless carry, or at least to consider a penalty for gun owners if their firearms were stolen due to negligence.
The latest numbers, plus a slight increase in gun homicides, may be the first signs of the law’s impact on the city.
“I know there are a lot of guns in Nashville,” Linda McFadyen-Ketchum of Moms Demand Action told WPLN last year. “I know there are a lot of people who have not trained on those guns, who might be making use of permitless carry, which means they haven’t had a gun safety class.”
And a lot of what happens in gun safety class is training on ways to safely store a firearm.
So where do these guns end up?
MNPD says that stolen firearms are often tied to crimes like robberies. There’s also evidence that shows that many of the guns end up in the hands of juveniles — sometimes with deadly consequences.
Paige Pfleger WPLN NewsMaricela Morales stands in front of a photo of her son, Joseluis. He was shot and killed by another teen who found a gun in a car.
The number of juveniles charged with first-time gun possession is on track to be the highest it’s been since 2019. Charges fell during the pandemic, but now show a return to pre-pandemic levels.
More than 100 young people have been charged with first-time handgun possession so far this year. That’s on track with 2019. And a few of those kids were caught bringing guns to their schools.
Juvenile Court Judge Sheila Calloway maintains that many of the gun cases she sees in her court are preventable.
“Don’t leave your weapon on the console of your car with your car door unlocked with the keys in your car,” Calloway told WPLN. “That’s when my youth — who are not on the top of their game in their thinking process and literally in the midst of their risk-taking process — are taking a risk.”
Jazmine Wheeler started taking that risk when she was only 14. She would go to a parking garage, or another crowded place, and try the handles of cars to see what was inside. It’s called “car hopping.”
“The first time I found a gun in the car was actually the first night I ever car hopped,” Jazmine told WPLN. “It was that easy.”
Eventually, car hopping became a lucrative business. She would sell the guns she found to other kids, or to adults. She’d use the money to help take care of her siblings, or to buy herself drugs.
But that all came to a halt one night in 2018 when she was out with other teens from her school, including Joseluis Gutierrez. Jazmine says she found a gun in an unlocked car.
“All I remember is playing with it,” she said. “I was playing with one, and a friend of mine was playing with one, and I just remember it went off.”
She jumped out of the car, confused, shocked. She looked back inside and saw that Joseluis had been shot in the head. The bullet had come from the gun that was in her hands.
The juvenile court judge determined there was no evidence that Jazmine intended to shoot Joseluis. She was charged with criminal homicide and handgun possession but pleaded to a lesser charge. She spent three years in juvenile detention.
“It’s heartbreaking when I see youth that come through our system that literally, if we as a community had simply locked our car doors, kept the keys with us and locked our guns in safe places, that these cases wouldn’t be down here,” Judge Calloway said.
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