CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – If you’ve driven down North 2nd Street toward Riverside Drive, you may have noticed a new billboard in the Budget Brakes parking lot: Gun Crime = Prison Time.

District Attorney General Robert Nash told Clarksville Now that this billboard is the first of many to come in the following months as part of a “public awareness campaign.” He explained that half of the crimes the district attorney’s office prosecutes are related to guns, violence and drugs.

“We do have some random and reckless gun violence and shootings, homicides, and all of that is crime,” he told Clarksville Now. “And the penalties for various violent crimes have increased in the last couple years.”

“So, I just thought, we do have a 13-year-old that was shot and killed, and I’m the prosecutor, so I just thought it was time for me to take a little action. Let people know that the district attorney’s office is aware and how we’re going to proceed. And I didn’t know how I could reach everybody. So, I thought, ‘How about putting a billboard up?'”

When it comes to funding, the billboard has received some pushback in that area. Nash said that there were concerns about how taxpayer funds were being used.

“I feel that if you can reach one person from getting their gun and shooting somebody, then it’s worth the $30 a day,” he said. “Taxpayers fund me; they fund my prosecutors, law enforcement officers, and funds the judges. The criminal justice system is taxpayer funded. The only thing I’m trying to do is get a message out.”

The current billboard will remain up for at least two months before it’s replaced with the next installment of the public awareness campaign.

“We’re going to have several things, like fentanyl, which just kills people. We’re going to touch on a lot of different topics that I want the public to be aware of regarding the ancillary things involving crime.”