NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Some lawmakers are calling for change after a shooting at a Bellevue park that left a 13-year-old dead and his 16-year-old sister hurt.
Metro police reported a fight broke out between teenagers in the parking lot of Red Caboose Park on Colice Jeanne Road near Bellevue Middle School around 8 p.m. Wednesday. Officers arrested 15-year-old De’Anthony Osasosifo, who allegedly used a gun stolen from a car in 2023 in the shooting.
The Red Caboose Park is located in Rep. Bo Mitchell's (D-Nashville) district. He called the shooting "senseless."
"Twenty years ago those kids would've fought in that park and maybe somebody got a bloody nose or a black eye. Now somebody's getting buried," Rep. Michell said.
According to Metro police data, there has been a 144% increase in juvenile shooting victims in Nashville since 2014. Guns are now the leading cause of death for children in Tennessee.
Rep. Michell told News 2 loose gun laws in TN are part of the problem, including a law passed in 2013 allowing people with permits to keep their guns in the trunks of their cars, and a law passed in 2021 making Tennessee an open carry state.
"You can see just the number of gun thefts since that law was passed and gun deaths," Rep. Mitchell said of the 'guns in trunks law.' "And the open carry. Everyone can have a gun. Everyone can carry a gun. How are the police supposed to know who is the good guy with a gun and who is the bad guy with a gun?"
Rep. Mitchell has sponsored several pieces of legislation over the years that would have tightened gun laws, including one that would have created the offense of storing a firearm or firearm ammunition in a car or boat in plain view while the person is not present, while requiring a gun owner to inform law enforcement of a gun theft or loss within 24 hours of learning of the theft or loss.
However, the Republican supermajority has historically struck down bills to make gun laws stricter, arguing many violate the Second Amendment. Instead, conservative lawmakers have worked to pass legislation creating stricter penalties for criminals, in addition to focusing on mental health.
"The Christmas bomber didn't use the firearm, he used a different method, so let's figure out how we address these particular individuals, not all mental health by any stretch of the imagination, but these violent individuals. How do we identify them, and then how do we act accordingly when we do that," Sen. Ferrell Haile, (R-Gallatin) told News 2 in July 2023.
Rep. Mitchell told News 2 he believes the only way to stop gun violence is through legislation, but he doesn't see "the willingness to do anything" from the other side.
"Until we as a society decide we're going to be better than this, we're going to keep getting the same result," Rep Mitchell said.