Memphis City Hall

A planned ballot referendum by Memphis, Tennessee, city officials to restore handgun carry permits and enact a municipal red-flag law is drawing swift retribution from some state leaders.

Specifically, the referendums would ask voters if they want to amend the city charter to restore handgun carry permit requirements, ban so-called “assault rifles” and impose “red-flag” rules to allow authorities to remove firearms from citizens if accused of being a threat to others.

However, Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton is threatening city leaders with financial repercussions if they go forward with the ballot initiative.

“The Legislature will not tolerate any attempts to go rogue and perform political sideshows,” Rep. Sexton said in a statement.

Both Sexton and Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, argue, and rightfully so, that the ballot initiative violates the state’s firearm preemption law, which bars municipalities from passing more restrictive gun laws than state law. Tennessee does not require handgun carry permits for lawful residents, has no red-flag law and no “assault weapon” ban.

“With the recent actions of the progressive, soft-on-crime DA in Shelby County and the Memphis City Council’s continued efforts to override state law with local measures, we feel it has become necessary to take action and protect all Tennesseans’ rights and liberties,” Sexton said. “We hope they will change course immediately.”

For his part, Lt. Gov. McNally said Memphis leaders’ attempt to circumvent the state preemption law will not be tolerated.

“The Tennessee Constitution clearly outlines the roles and responsibilities of the state and local governments,” McNally said. “Shelby County needs to understand that despite their hopes and wishes to the contrary, they are constrained by these explicit constitutional guardrails.”

Top Republican lawmakers intend to withhold funding from Memphis if leaders decide to continue with the ballot initiative effort. The city received $78 million from that source in the most recent budget year.

Anti-gun Democrat lawmakers, like Senate Democrat leader Raumesh Akbari, however, aren’t fond of the proposal to withhold funding for the city because of the gun-ban initiatives.

“The people of Memphis, like those in other large cities across Tennessee, are desperate for solutions to reduce gun violence,” Akbari told the Tennessee Journal. “What we need now is a good faith partnership with the state, not threats that jeopardize our already scant funding resources.”

Along with the threatened withholding of funds, Secretary of State Tre Hargett has announced that his office would not approve the ballot unless the questions are removed, according to the Journal.

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24 COMMENTS

  1. So Tennessee isn’t the gat paradise so many tout? Good to know. TTAG was down for an hour at least🙄

  2. I worked in Memphis, the people there are dirt poor and have nothing but they still kill each other over it. Gun control will not solve any of that and the only thing that will change the behavior is changing the culture and the society. no amount of laws will ever stop people from doing evil acts. You have to make it where they would simply never even consider doing those things instead of simply prosecuting them once they do.

  6. Memphis is 64% black.
    Anybody ask Memphis’ leaders why they feel their residents can’t be trusted like the residents of other towns in TN?

    Seems a tad bit racist of them.

    • The irony is that James Earl Ray would likely agree with having stricter gun laws in 64% Memphis – after all, it is probably safe to assume he did not think Negroes should own guns beyond a singleshot. Further, MLK might have disagreed…

    • Tn legislature ejected the Memphis (BLM) rep last year for being a huge POS. Then the Memphis DEI crowd reelected the same POS BLM twit.

  7. So called Assault Weapon bans, magazine restrictions, concealed carry permits, etc. are products of a public who could not Define Gun Control by its Diabolical History if their lives depended on it. The failure to expose Gun Control’s Atrocities circles back to zipped lipped Gun talking blowbags who have failed miserbly to educate the public. So take a look all you silent slackers at America’s equivalent to nazi brown shirts and mao’s little red books because YOU OWN IT.
    https://youtube.com/watch?v=7A3zBe1zWRg&feature=shared

  8. Raumesh Akbari is not the name of someone who has any business living in Tennesse, or America for that matter

      • Is calling me a fascist supposed to give you power over me? Anyway there should be bans on immigration from the following (but not limited to) countries:
        India
        China (PRC)
        Mexico
        Guatemala
        Honduras
        Venezuela
        Nigeria
        Somalia
        Ukraine
        Haiti
        dont like it then complain to someone who cares
        pro tip, i dont care

    • No business? Got proof that he is not a US citizen? Then go present it in court.

      Wasn’t that long ago that some would’ve said the same about people with names like “Dmitar”.

    • Dmitar is not the name of someone who has any business living in Tennesse, or America for that matter.

      See how that works?

      Once again, conservative posters on TTAG do their best to divide America.

  9. “The people of Memphis, like those in other large cities across Tennessee, are desperate for solutions to reduce gun violence,”

    hmmm lets clarify that… ya mean the anti-gun people of Memphis are desperate for solutions to ban guns and violate the 2A.

    Look, i’ve been to Memphis and seen what its really like, its infested with gang members and thugs and other assorted criminal elements. My sister lives in Southaven Ms right across the state line that butts up against Memphis. Ya’ll already have the solutions to so called ‘gun violence’ in Memphis, its the same solution they use in Southaven across the state line that keeps the Memphis gangs and thugs and other assorted criminal elements gangs out of Southaven, and that’s an active police force that is not apathetic to the public and not infested with gang member ‘sympathizers’ that jumps all over them when they show up and citizens shooting these criminals when they show up to do their crimes.

    Even the citizens of Memphis cross the state line and come to Southaven for shopping and other purposes because they know its safer there because of those solutions.

    You have the same solutions available to you Memphis, yet what does your city council do? Why of course, want more laws that criminals don’t obey, and would only serve to disarm the law abiding. Its pretty obvious intelligence is not a very strong quality among the Memphis city council, but agenda is.

  13. His problem is his poor understanding that equates gun restrictions with solutions, not his name.

  14. Memphis has a violent crime problem that neither the City or Shelby County governments seem to be capable of addressing.

    Do a “Memphis” search here and all kinds of nonsense will pop up.

    Then there’s the problem that local P.D. has which is just now beginning to be prosecuted but, the underlying systemic ‘leadership’ problems which fostered it have not even begun to be addressed:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Tyre_Nichols

  15. “The people of Memphis, like those in other large cities across Tennessee, are desperate for solutions to reduce gun violence,”

    Then enforce and prosecute to to the fullest extent of the law via existing laws for violent crimes where the criminal used or possessed a firearm or had illegal possession of a firearm rather than look at ways to disarm law abiding citizens to turn them into subjects.

  16. The Tennessee legislature should just abolish Shelby County and the City of Memphis as political entities. The legislature needs to go scorched earth on these communist power seekers. Problem solved.

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