NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — A new Tennessee Comptroller memo shows there have been 49 school shootings in Tennessee since 1998.
It peaked in the early 2000s at five in the 2004-2005 school year but stayed at that number or fewer after. At least, it stayed there until the 2021-2022 school year, when it spiked to nine, followed by eight last year.
“You’re seeing a huge spike in rural areas across the state of Tennessee,” House Democratic Caucus Chairman John Ray Clemmons (D-Nashville) said. “This isn’t just an urban issue, this is a rural issue as well, and that’s where you’re seeing the steepest increase.”
The Comptroller’s office delivered the memo to Rep. John Ragan (R-Oak Ridge), who did point out that the overall number of shootings is relatively low compared to how many schools and students we have.
But still, Ragan acknowledged we shouldn’t have any.
“The school shooting issue is one that definitely deserves attention, even though it is low probability, high impact,” he said. “It’s still important for us to keep our children safe when, by law, we require them to be in school.”
The concept is something both sides agree on. The issue—how to mitigate it.
Democrats have been staunch in their belief for gun reform.
“We can’t turn our schools into fortresses. We need to focus on the root cause of the problem and look at this as a macro issue of how are these firearms made available to these children?” Clemmons said. “How are these firearms made available to people who have and are exhibiting behavioral health issues?”
Republicans have held firm that mental health and school safety are the avenues to take. Ragan pointed to his own experience in the military.
“You put as many barriers between you and the attacker as is reasonably possible, giving yourself time to react and respond to the attack before it becomes fatal,” he said. “That seems to be, in my personal judgment, one of the most cost-effective and efficient methods of creating more safety and reducing the number of school shootings because it becomes far more difficult.”
Ragan incited some frustration from Democrats when he sent the data out to his colleagues.
In an email (which is detailed in full below), he wrote in part:
Interestingly, no one seems to be crying out to ban hypodermic needles because of overdose deaths. Likewise, nobody is demanding a ban on Corvettes and Mustangs because of drunk-driver-caused fatalities. Guns, like hypodermic needles and automobiles, have legitimate uses other than causing criminally-inflicted deaths. Consequently, logic seems to require a focus on something other than the inanimate object involved in a criminally-inflicted death.
“You have an extremist right-wing appointed Comptroller trying to create a narrative focused on that issue that’s ultimately trying to feed into this narrative that we need to fortify or militarize our schools,” Clemmons said, in response.
Ragan’s email in full:
Dear Colleagues,
This communication transmits a copy of a study I recently requested from the Comptroller of Treasury’s Office of Educational Research and Education Accountability. I am forwarding this document to aid your preparation for the announced extraordinary session scheduled on 21 August 2023.
My intent is to focus our attention on evidence and data related to our state’s school shooting issue, rather than emotions. Consequently, the forwarded file is a 25-year lookback at the reported school shootings only in Tennessee. It is an independent data collection and re-examination of the topic similar to the one I forwarded in May on school shootings in the entire US.
Please permit me to “bottom-line” the data-based conclusions from the attached study:
- The 49 school shootings in our state during the last 25 years have produced 12 (non-perpetrator) fatalities (half of which were in the Convent School event this year).
- More than 3/4 of these school shootings occurred at high schools.
- More than 2/3 of these school shootings occurred in urban or town schools.
- More than half involved students or former students.
- Very slightly less than half occurred inside a school building.
- Over 4 out of 10 school shootings involved dispute escalations.
From other, readily available studies, it is known that the overwhelming majority of school shooter are male. Additionally, from the FBI’s Crime Statistics in Table 20, it is known that, nationally, only a little over 3% of homicides committed with guns are perpetrated with long-guns.
Notwithstanding inflammatory rhetoric, logic demands relatively a balanced, proportional and reasonable approach considering criminally driven deaths from all situations. For example, beyond over 10,000 homicides annually committed with guns, our country experiences over 106,000 drug overdose deaths from illegal drugs, and greater than 11,000 deaths due to drivers illegally operating their vehicles under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
Interestingly, no one seems to be crying out to ban hypodermic needles because of overdose deaths. Likewise, nobody is demanding a ban on Corvettes and Mustangs because of drunk-driver-caused fatalities. Guns, like hypodermic needles and automobiles, have legitimate uses other than causing criminally-inflicted deaths. Consequently, logic seems to require a focus on something other than the inanimate object involved in a criminally-inflicted death.
Regrettably, there are evil people who commit evil acts against the most innocent among us. However, such has been the documented case for millennia of recorded history. Unfortunately, notwithstanding just evil people, there are evil influences and mental illnesses that motivate people to commit evil acts.
Sadly, a person with serious mental illness may not unmistakably manifest it until too late. Additionally, so-called “early warning signs” of mental illness may abound but are ignored because they are culturally acceptable or “politically correct.” This situation creates a fear of being labeled a bigot, or worse, for an objective observer reporting such. “Politically correct” exemplars include many homeless individuals who refuse free shelter or drug addicts who actively avoid “penalty-free” treatment programs. Of course, there are many other examples in other arenas, including the one under discussion, but the point is sufficiently made.
Let us pray that the Almighty gives us the wisdom to discern our duty as well as the strength and courage to do it whether such is popular or not.
Regards,
John D. Ragan
State Representative
