Violence Policy Center Backgrounder on Gun Crime, Gun Possession, and Gun Exposure in Tennessee

Washington, DC--In the wake of yesterday�s school shooting in Jacksboro, Tennessee, the Violence Policy Center issued the following brief backgrounder on firearm crime and gun possession in Tennessee:

• Tennessee ranked first in the nation for the rate of violent crime committed with firearms (a rate of 251.2 per 100,000, compared to the national average of 120.5 per 100,000). [Source: "Crime State Rankings 2005," Morgan Quitno Press, which are based on 2003 statistics from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)].
  
  
• Tennessee ranked first in the nation for the rate of aggravated assault with a firearm (a rate of 153.3 per 100,000, compared to the national average of 57.7 per 100,000). [Source: "Crime State Rankings 2005," Morgan Quitno Press, which are based on 2003 statistics from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)].
  
  
• Tennessee ranked sixth in the nation for the rate of juveniles arrested for murder (with a rate of 5.1 per 100,000, compared to the national average of 3.3 per 100,000). [Source: "Crime State Rankings 2005," Morgan Quitno Press, which are based on 2003 statistics from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)].
  
  
• For Tennessee adult households with firearms, 46.4 percent had a firearm in the household, 12.0 percent kept a loaded firearm in the household, and 6.6 percent kept a loaded and unlocked firearm in the household. [Source: Okoro, Catherine A., et al, �Prevalence of Household Firearms and Firearm-Storage Practices in the 50 States and the District of Columbia: Findings From the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2002,� Pediatrics, Vol. 116, No. 3, September 2005.
  
  
• For Tennessee households with children and youth under the age of 18, 9.7 percent kept a loaded firearm in the household, exposing an estimated 136,340 children and youth. [Source: Okoro, Catherine A., et al, �Prevalence of Household Firearms and Firearm-Storage Practices in the 50 States and the District of Columbia: Findings From the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2002,� Pediatrics, Vol. 116, No. 3, September 2005.]
  
  
• Tennessee law tracks federal law on juvenile gun possession and prohibits any juvenile (defined as any person less than 18 years of age, per Tenn. Code � 39-17-1319(a)(2)) from knowingly possessing a handgun with certain enumerated exceptions. There is no minimum age to possess rifles and shotguns in Tennessee. [Source: Legal Community Against Violence, State and Local Laws http://www.lcav.org/content/state_local.asp]

The Violence Policy Center is a national non-profit educational foundation that conducts research on violence in America and works to develop violence-reduction policies and proposals. The Center examines the role of firearms in America, conducts research on firearms violence, and explores new ways to decrease firearm-related death and injury.