The number of gun thefts from vehicles in Nashville for the first six weeks of the year decreased 43 percent from 2023, according to a press release from the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department.
So far, 90 guns have been stolen from Nashville cars compared to last year’s 158. Gun thefts from cars comprise 72 percent of all gun thefts in Nashville so far for 2024. The decrease comes after several years of rising numbers of gun thefts from cars.
“Going hand in hand with vehicle burglaries is vehicle theft,” MNPD said in the release. “Too many automobiles remain easy targets because keys are left inside or made available to thieves. Just like guns taken from vehicles, these stolen autos are also routinely involved in criminal activities, including carjackings and robberies.”
A majority of Nashville gun thefts in recent years were from cars, many of which were left unlocked with the keys inside.
In 2023, 1,203 guns were stolen from vehicles in Nashville, which is down 13.5 percent from 1,392 the year before, according to a January 3, press release from MNPD. Seventy-seven percent of all gun thefts were from vehicles.
“The MNPD strongly encourages Nashvillians to lock their automobile doors in the New Year, secure any valuables — especially guns, and remove the keys,” MNPD said in that release. The police department further asked Nashville residents to not leave their cars running unattended, whether to allow the car to warm up during cold weather or outside convenience stores.
From 2017 to 2021, gun thefts from vehicles in Nashville increased from 576 to 1,307, according to a video MNPD posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, in 2022.
Did you know that 185 guns have already been stolen from vehicles in Nashville during 2022? Chief John Drake & our officers ask you to please don't be a victim of gun theft by safely securing your firearms! pic.twitter.com/PGsR7ljSAZ
— Metro Nashville PD (@MNPDNashville) February 8, 2022
“Please don’t be a victim,” MNPD Chief John Drake said in the video. “We need all of Nashville working together to keep Nashville safe.”
MNPD has warned Nashville, residents of the threat of gun theft from unsecured vehicles, several times in recent years.
Since the start of 2024, MNPD has published five press releases warning Nashvillians that a majority of gun thefts are from unattended, unsecured vehicles.
Nashville, however, is not unique in Tennessee for having a problem with gun thefts from cars.
Anti-gun group Everytown reported in 2022, using data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, that Memphis and Chattanooga held the highest rates of gun thefts from cars per 100,000 people. The next closest city in that ranking — Columbia, South Carolina — was further behind by approximately 20 per 100,000, more than twice the amount between it and the next lowest city.
The Tennessee legislature introduced legislation in 2023 that would have criminalized leaving ammunition and firearms in unattended vehicles, The Tennessee Star previously reported. The bill — HB 1233 — would have required people storing firearms or ammunition in their vehicles to keep them “kept from ordinary observation and locked within the trunk, utility or glove box, or a locked container securely affixed to the motor vehicle or boat.”
However, lawmakers withdrew support for the bill six months after it was filed.
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Matthew Giffin is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Matthew on X/Twitter.
