Media Advisory

By Elliott Davenport, Jr. | March 7, 2024

“Growing up in Tennessee, I always looked forward to the month of September. It officially marked the end of summer and the return of the school year, but for me, the highlight of fall in Tennessee has always been the opening weekend of dove season.

My great uncle and aunt would send letters to the scattered branches of our family, inviting everyone to their north Georgia farm to hunt. Receiving my personal invitation felt like a rite of passage into adulthood.

It was also an invitation that came with responsibility. Our family’s safety on these hunts was always the priority, something I learned early from my father and in the hunter safety education course that we all take to secure our hunting license.”

Continue reading at Dresden Enterprise.

Elliott Davenport, Jr. is a lifelong hunter and Hamilton County, TN resident.

New Proposed Funding to Address Tennessee’s Background Check Record Backlog Is A Top Safer TN Priority

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (February 6, 2024) – Voices for a Safer Tennessee (Safer TN), a nonpartisan organization dedicated to prioritizing firearm safety and promoting responsible firearm ownership, issued the following statement from policy director Erin Rogus in response to Governor Bill Lee’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2024-2025:

“Voices for a Safer Tennessee thanks the Lee Administration for their commitment to improving the accuracy of our background check system. Governor Lee’s proposed investment in additional Tennessee Bureau of Investigations (TBI) personnel focused on addressing the 761,000-background check record backlog and training local agencies on best reporting practices is an important step forward in creating a safer Tennessee.

Last year in Executive Order 100, Governor Lee called for expedited reporting into the Tennessee Instant Checks System and also directed the TBI to report on how the system could be improved. Now, the Administration is acting to address the challenges identified in the TBI’s report, including the concerning 761,000-record backlog that requires additional research and processing.

Addressing the backlog and identifying prohibited firearm purchasers is critical to keeping firearms out of the hands of felons and domestic abusers, and reducing preventable firearm tragedies. Safer TN is committed to working with members of the Tennessee General Assembly to preserve this funding in the final budget.”

About Voices for a Safer Tennessee: Voices for a Safer Tennessee (Safer TN) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan coalition of Tennessee families, faith leaders, business executives and educators, hunters, gunowners, veterans and military families, who are dedicated to prioritizing pragmatic, evidence-based firearm safety laws and promoting responsible firearm ownership. Our mission is to build safer, healthier communities by reducing preventable firearm tragedies across Tennessee. We are founded by, led by, and funded by Tennesseans, committed to Tennessee solutions, with 25,000 coalition members across all 95 counties and growing. Learn more at safertn.org.

“Today we are courageously joined by Katy Dieckhaus, who lost her daughter Evelyn in the Covenant School Shooting in Nashville in 2023, and Annette Lake, who lost both her father Kenny and son Terrance to suicide by firearm less than a year apart in the early 2000s. They’re sharing their stories with you. We are also joined by Erin Rogus, who is walking with people like Katy and Annette to fight for change. Erin is the policy director for Voices For A Safer Tennessee, which is a nonprofit, nonpartisan statewide coalition dedicated to prioritizing firearm safety and advocating for common sense gun laws to make communities across Tennessee safer for all of us. Listening to stories like Katy’s and Annette’s is how we practice walking with people and not standing on issues. These women’s stories will change you— maybe not your opinion, and that’s okay—but they will change your heart if you let them.”

Listen on The Carlos Whittaker Podcast.