KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — From pistols to assault rifles and even crossbows — weapons and firearms are often used in violent crime across the state. According to data from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, around 75% of murders and 62% of robberies in 2022 involved guns.
When those guns are found by authorities, they are confiscated and law enforcement effectively takes ownership over them. Brian Davis, who heads the Knoxville Police Department's Property Management Unit, said guns found by the police department are taken to the basement of the Public Safety Center. There, they stored behind several locked doors.
Davis said KPD can take possession of three types of firearms — evidentiary firearms, safekeeping firearms and found guns. Evidentiary firearms are usually found while investigating crimes and KPD takes possession of them.
Safekeeping firearms are weapons given to the police department by their owners for a short period of time. Davis said gun owners may relinquish their guns if they have an upcoming medical procedure or plan to travel, and want them kept safe somewhere.
The third type of stored firearm, found guns, are guns that were usually left in motels or bathrooms and were found by police, or by people who called police to pick them up. After enough time, the firearms may end up back on the street through a KPD protocol.
He said the police department collects around three firearms every day, of all types. He said currently, the department has around 8,000 stored firearms. The most he said it has ever had was around 12,500 firearms.
"You've got shotguns. You've got M4s, there's a lot of those out now. Then we'll get a lot of AR pistols," said Davis.
The police department has a policy allowing authorities to trade weapons to an authorized firearms dealer. According to state law, local law enforcement agencies can't destroy confiscated weapons, unless they are deemed inoperable or unsafe for use. It only allows working guns to be sold to the public, to be used by law enforcement or to be exchanged with other law enforcement agencies.
"In Tennessee, we're governed by a law that basically states, and I'll paraphrase, that we are not allowed to just randomly destroy firearms — that we have to sell or trade those firearms," said Davis. "We'll take a group of guns and trade those to get another group of guns with a licensed firearm dealer."
He said by using guns to help outfit law enforcement, taxpayers can save money. He said the guns collected by law enforcement are traded to firearms dealers and used to help pay for weapons that officers can use.
However, once the guns are traded away, it becomes hard to track where they can end up.
"Could you potentially own a firearm, if bought used somewhere, that has been used in a crime?" said Davis. "There is that possibility."
While he said guns used in some crimes could end up back in the hands of the public, Davis said weapons used in murder cases would never leave the police department's possession.
"A gun that was used to murder someone. We are not going to get rid of. That is murder evidence and we keep murder evidence forever," said Davis.
The police department has firearms used in homicides dating back to the 1980s, Davis said. He also said he knows firsthand the importance of holding on to these weapons.
"As a former homicide investigator, I know weapons that I have actually needed for prosecution are here," said Davis. "So, that's what you take with you. That's what you remember."
These crime guns can also end up in the criminal court system under the possession of Mike Hammond, the Knox County Criminal Court Clerk.
"Any evidence that is presented in a criminal trial where the defendant is found guilty," said Hammond. "All of that evidence will go into our vault."
The Knox County Criminal Court Clerk vault is located in the basements of the City County Building and stores all the evidence used in criminal court cases, including weapons and firearms.
"We have over 600 items that would be categorized as weapons here in our evidence vault, and all of these have been used in a crime and all of the people have been found guilty and are in the penitentiary now that have used these weapons," said Hammond.
Unlike at the police department, firearms in the court's vault will never leave the court's possession.
"It could be everything from murder to armed robbery, to assault, to any number of things," said Hammond. "We want to make sure that we keep everything in case it goes on appeal and we don't know when that could happen."