NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Both the Senate and House agree: the state should provide more funding for free gun locks for those in Tennessee.
The money provided for this bill would be around $1 million this fiscal year and $1.5 million in subsequent years. It doesn't have any wording in the bill that would legally hold anyone responsible for not storing a gun safely. The House voted 77-9-4. The Department of Safety would provide free gun locks to any Tennessean who asks for one.
"There's 99 of us," Rep. Mark White, R-Memphis. "The beauty of constitutional government is we work together to get things done. I have been here 14 years. I have passed heavy legislation. In the way I get anything done is I work with the other 98. I don't stand up and demand my way. What we have before us today is that it helps. It's where we are today. This came with members meeting over the summer with the administration that this is what we could accomplish. We have to work together to get anything done."
The House roared in applause and got ruled out of order.
But White's colleagues from Shelby County were not agreeing, calling the legislation "fluff." Reports from 2021 show that 85 children died from firearms that year. This data comes from the Child Fatality Review database from the Tennessee Department of Health. In total, 628 children have died from firearms since 2013. A week before special session, a 2-year-old in Nashville was accidentally shot inside her home. It's still not clear two weeks whether she survived.
"Don't take it personally to make it seem like we are actually doing something," Rep. Antonio Parkinson, D-Memphis, said. "The counties already give away free gun locks where I am from. For us to bring legislation with no teeth in it and nothing that would make an adult safely store their weapons so that a child or gang member doesn't break in and get it and then shoot innocent people in our communities — it's fluff."
Parkinson's plea did nothing to sway White from taking the bill off notice this session.
This bill would go into effect in October.
