On Election Day 2024 (November 5), the voters in Memphis were asked to consider several local charter amendments that impact the rights which are protected by the Second Amendment. By an overwhelming majority, the results indicate that the voters in Memphis approved these clearly illegal proposals. The issue now will likely proceed to the courts.
Memphis proposed 3 specific issues in Referendum Ordinance No. 5908. The first question asked whether Memphis would ban on carrying a gun without a permit or having a gun in a car without a permit in the city of Memphis. The second question asked whether Memphis would adopt an assault weapon ban that would also prohibit the sale of assault rifles in the city unless they were to law enforcement or a government agency. The third question asked whether Memphis should ignore state law by creating a “red flag” procedure in Memphis where courts would be allowed to take someone’s gun away from them if they are found to be a significant danger or extreme risk to themselves or others. According to reports, the vote tabulation in Memphis indicated that all three issues were approved by voters and that these restrictions will go into effect in Memphis on January 1, 2025.
These issues impact not only residents of Memphis but any individual who is in Memphis for any reason.
Further, in addition to being clear violations of the Second Amendment, each of these new local ordinances clearly violate Tennessee law which prevents local governments from any regulation of firearms or firearms related activities (with only narrow exceptions that do not apply to these ordnance changes). See, Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-17-1314.
Tennessee Firearms Association has members and supporters who live in or frequent Memphis. TFA is evaluating whether to file or support a lawsuit to challenge the new ordinances.
Further, shenanigans such as this must be opposed because other cities and counties in the state may decide that they should also ignore the Constitution and state law by following Memphis’ lead. Indeed, Nashville’s radical local government and current Mayor could easily follow this tactic as early as 2025.
If you are interested in helping fight these clearly illegal and unconstitutional acts by Memphis, you can do so by:
- joining TFA as a member (or renewing your membership) if you are not already a member. This would be particularly important if you live in or travel to Memphis and you would want to be considered as a representative plaintiff.
- if you are already a member of TFA, you can support this effort with a financial contribution that would help fund the litigation efforts.
- You can also make a tax deductible donation to the Tennessee Firearms Foundation (a 501c3 charity) which has increasingly engaged in or supported public interest litigation on matters such as this.
Memphis has, for practical purposes, an unlimited capacity to litigate issues such as this since it has a taxpayer funded “legal department” that can be assigned the defense of these illegal acts at practically no additional cost to Memphis. Litigation by or supported by TFA could easily exceed tens of thousands of dollars because Memphis will certainly fight to protect these new draconian ordinances and will foreseeably do so on appeal if necessary.
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