Domestic Violence & Firearms

The Metro Nashville Office of Family Safety (OFS) works to prevent and respond to gun violence in interpersonal violence through our work with clients helping them plan for safety when a gun is involved, our High Risk Intervention Panel (HRIP) coordinated case response, and through our multi-disciplinary system-wide DV & Firearms Dispossession Task Force to ensure firearms dispossession required by state and federal law of convicted domestic violence offenders and those with active Order of Protection against them.

To do this work, we have developed the following resources:

Firearms Safety Plan Tips Consejos para su Plan de Seguridad – Armas de Fuego

Judicial Firearms Dispossession Bench Card

MNPD Firearms & DV Pocket Card

Firearms Identification Form (Handout Version)

DV & Firearms Dispossession Task Force

The Office of Family Safety leads Nashville’s DV Firearms Dispossession Taskforce that coordinates interagency policies and procedures to ensure the surrender of firearms owned by defendants convicted of domestic violence or with an active Order of Protection under state and federal law.

This taskforce has created a city-wide dispossession protocol with step-by-step procedures than can ensure firearms surrender is effective. To support the implementation of this protocol, the Office of Family Safety began its Firearms Flagging Program in June 2019 to screen all criminal DV cases, civil OP cases, LAPs, and defendant case histories for evidence of firearms ownership or usage. Finally, beginning in 2022, Nashville and Davidson County General Sessions judges will begin conducting dispossession status hearings for defendants and OP respondents suspected to have firearms.

DV Firearms Dispossession Task Force Members

Metro Office of Family Safety
Metro Nashville Police Department, Domestic Violence Division
Metro Nashville District Attorney’s Office
Metro Nashville Criminal Court Clerk’s Office
General Sessions, Circuit Court, and Criminal Court judges
Davidson County Sheriff’s Office
General Sessions Probation
TN State Probation and Parole
US Attorney General’s Office

Firearms & Domestic Violence Statistics in Nashville

49% of victims who answered the LAP reported their abuser had or could easily get a firearm
37% of victims who answered the LAP indicated that their abuser had used or threatened them with a weapon previously
5,311 (or 44%) criminal defendants and OP respondents were flagged by OFS for owning a firearm or having used or threatened a victim with a firearm.
7 out of 11 domestic violence homicides in 2021 were perpetrated with a firearm.
9 out of 15 domestic violence homicides in 2020 were perpetrated with a firearm.
8 out of 14 domestic violence homicides in 2019 were perpetrated with a firearm.
10 out of 13 domestic violence homicides in 2018 were perpetrated with a firearm.

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To view and download the full 2021 Domestic Violence & Guns in Nashville info brief, click here.