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The other (or possibly the only) use of gunpowder in the books is by Saruman at Helm's Deep. Devilry of Orthanc, they call it, and rightly enough. Chivalrous knights like Aragorn and Éomer would have been none too keen to see the development of gunpowder. It is a technology which is shown as having evil connotations. For the good guys to use it would undermine their credibility - they may as well have just used the Ring.
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So are you assuming that technology equals evil? That seems to be the prevalent interpretation out there, and I wouldn’t be that quick to dismiss it. However, equating the one ring to technology (something that National Geographic did without much thought) might be pushing the theory a bit beyond its limit. I see Saruman’s use of (supposed) gun powder, and his “industrialization” of Isengard fitting the technology = evil theory in that technology is seen as an instrument for the corrupted, yet weak minded. In other words, technology is a dirty trick for those who lack the character to fight fair (Romanticism at its height). The depths of Sauron’s or Melkor’s evil, and thus the one ring, however, went much deeper than mere technology or its use.