The New Normal: No Gun Permit? No Problem

POINT The New Normal:

No Gun Permit? No Problem

By AMY WEIRICH

As we slowly begin removing our masks and climbing out from the forced isolation of the COVID pandemic, we still are faced with that other pandemic - gun violence.

Unfortunately, the gun violence pandemic here and across the country shows no sign of slowing down. And there is no vaccine for this one.

In fact, on July 1, the opposite of a vaccine arrives when permit-less carry becomes the law in Tennessee. With just a handful of exceptions, anyone over 21 can legally carry a handgun in public. No training required.

What could possibly go wrong?

Memphis had a record 332 homicides in 2020, with 80 percent of those involving guns. More than 1,300 people were shot. That’s not a misprint. Reports to police of shots fired: 21,000. Again, not a misprint.

Nationwide, nearly 20,000 homicides involving guns were reported, according to the non-profit Gun Violence Archive.

Clearly, there are far too many guns in the wrong hands, the hands of those looking for victims to rob, to get even with, or to kill.

Currently, 716,027 Tennesseans have handgun permits. They passed a basic background check and completed a basic firearms training class. Is that really too much to ask?

A permit is what separates those who hope they never have to pull the trigger from those who are itching to do just that.

Law enforcement officers who see someone in public with a handgun can ask to see their permit and quickly determine whether this is a law abider who has been trained or a law breaker who should be charged with a crime.

Without a permit, there is no way for officers to know who is carrying to protect and who is carrying to prey.

Yet, come July 1, Tennessee is doing away with the permit requirement to carrying around a dangerous weapon. No training? No problem. Some 20 other states also have adopted permit-less or, as its supporters call it, Constitutional carry.

You only must be at least 21 (18 to 20 if in the military) and be a Tennessee resident. Still excluded from legally having a handgun are convicted felons, those with mental health issues, or those with convictions for domestic violence, stalking or drunken driving.

Theft of a firearm, now a misdemeanor, becomes a felony under the permit-less carry law with a six-month mandatory sentence. That’s the tradeoff.

In 2013, when the legislature passed the so-called guns-in-trunks law, Memphis had reported 358 thefts of guns from motor vehicles. That was about average before the law went into effect. When large numbers of gun owners began legally keeping their guns in their vehicles, the thefts immediately jumped.

Criminals may not follow the law, but they know the law – and they know where to look for guns.

Last year 1,324 guns were stolen from cars in Memphis. That number almost certainly will go up as people buy guns with no requirement to know how to safely store them. (A lock box in the trunk is an excellent way to store a gun. Even better is a lock box at home so kids are not endangered.)

Here is perhaps why Tennessee is so divided on the gun issue. In the large rural areas of the state, where hunting is popular, young people learn about gun safety from their elders or from hunting organizations.

In Memphis and other densely populated urban areas of the state, where hunting is not an option for many, young people are exposed to firearms at an early age, but with no safety instruction whatsoever.

Guns bought and sold on the street, or stolen from cars and homes, are then often stashed in neighborhood hiding spots to be checked out, used and returned like library books.

The first time a young person uses a gun is likely to be during the commission of a crime. There is no safety class for users of illegal handguns. There is no test to pass. And, now, no permit to acquire for anyone. It is strictly on-the-job training.

So where do we go from here?

If you have a gun, or plan to get one, learn something about it: how it works, how to safely store it, when you can use it, and when you can’t. Go to a gun safety class and learn about situational awareness, trigger discipline, and using commands to de-escalate a situation before it becomes deadly.

Treat every gun as if it is loaded, never point at anything you don’t intend to shoot and be aware of the background behind your target.

Encourage other first-time handgun owners to take a safety class as well.

Don’t buy a gun with the mindset that you’d rather be tried by 12 than carried by six. There’s much more to gun ownership than looking for a chance to shoot a bad guy. In real life, what you’re willing to do and then actually doing it are two different things.

In a stressful situation, with your heart pumping and adrenaline flowing, accuracy can drop by up to 40 percent in even the best of shooters. It’s not like a day at the gun range where you can breathe, relax, aim and squeeze.

In real-life situations, most of your shots are likely to miss.

In recent years, many members of my office have gone through a simulated firearms exercise called Shoot-Don’t Shoot. Even though you know it’s just a simulation, it will get your heart pumping and leave you with sweaty hands.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation program presents a video requiring the participant to make splitsecond decisions whether to shoot and, if so, who to shoot. The weapon is a heavy laser gun that vibrates and simulates gunfire. The characters on the video react to the shots, sometimes dropping in their tracks and sometimes returning fire.

Participants also are told to shout commands and warnings to the characters on the screen to stop an assault or to de-escalate the situation.

When it’s over and the lights come on, the location of the participant’s shots are shown on the screen. They’re often off-target by a large margin – even though you’re sure your aim was right on target - and participants sometimes “kill” a good guy by mistake.

That’s a bad feeling, even though it’s just a simulator. It’s definitely a wake-up call for anyone thinking about carrying a gun.

In response to the permit-less carry change in the law, Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner Jr. recently began offering free handgun safety classes for the public. There will be no guns and no shooting, but firearms instructors will teach proper handling and operation of firearms, how to carry and secure them, and many other safety topics.

Shelby County, the state’s most populous, has always had more gun-permit holders than any other county in Tennessee. Let’s hope those planning to become new permit-less gun carriers will be responsible well-trained owners. 

Amy Weirich is the District Attorney General of Shelby County.