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Police seize hundreds of firearms from Chattanooga's streets
So far this year, Hamilton County law enforcement officers have seized and taken 580 guns off the streets - guns officers say would otherwise likely have been used to commit crimes.
"We know that one weapon has shot multiple people in the past," said Sgt. Michael Wenger, who supervises the homicide unit. "Taking one weapon off the street could save multiple lives."
The number of seized guns is higher than normal, and apparently we can chalk it up to the unintended consequences of laws passed in our General Assembly.
Wenger said police are seeing an increase in the number of guns stolen from cars and trucks after Tennessee politicians passed a law in July 2014 that allows people who legally possess guns to keep loaded weapons in their vehicles without a state-issued handgun carry permit.
"The criminals know," Wenger said. "It doesn't take long for them to figure out there are more guns in cars and target them."
The numbers also are going up for Chattanooga in other ways. In 2014, 804 firearms were recovered by law enforcement agencies all over the country and traced back to our city. In previous years, dating backwards to 2010, that statistic was 774, 698, 605 and 552.
There is a twist on this story. You could call it another unintended consequence, except that the National Rifle Association very much intended it when they pushed our lawmakers some years ago to ban police departments and county sheriffs' offices from destroying these seized weapons. Now departments are required to stockpile them or sell back back to the community.
You know - put them back out on the streets. Again.