The Memphis City Council took official action in 2024 to propose to the voters on November 5, 2024, that they adopt amendments to the Memphis Charter that addressed various firearms related topics. The City Council’s Proposed Ordinance specifically said that it would go into effect on January 1, 2025, and a provision regarding the sales of “assault weapons” specifically contained a January 1, 2025, cutoff date.
The actions of the Memphis City Council to propose charter amendments regulating firearms in Memphis was opposed by the State of Tennessee Election Commission, the Shelby County Election Commission, and leadership in the Tennessee Legislature. When the Shelby County Election Commission removed the ballot referendum, the Memphis City Council sued to force the Shelby County Election to place the referendum on the November 5, 2024, ballot.
A Shelby County Chancellor ruled in favor of the City Council in September 2024 and ordered the Shelby County Election Commission to put the proposed firearms charter amendments on the November 5, 2024, ballot.
Thus, on November 5, 2024, the voters in Memphis were given three proposed charter amendments that had been proposed by the City Council that each had the direct intent and purpose of regulating firearms in Memphis – an action that appeared to clearly violate at least two state preemption statutes. The voters in Memphis adopted all three charter amendments. Under Article XI, Section 9 of the Tennessee Constitution, any such proposed charter amendment in Memphis “shall become effective sixty (60) days after approval by a majority of the qualified voters voting thereon” which would be January 4, 2025.
A lawsuit was filed against the City of Memphis and its Chief of Police shortly after the November 5, 2024, general election. In that lawsuit, the Plaintiffs which included the Tennessee Firearms Association and Gun Owners of America, asked the Circuit Court to issue a declaratory ruling and an injunction prohibiting the enforcement of the charter amendments which had been approved by the voters.
Curiously, the response of the City of Memphis to the lawsuit that was filed on December 20, 2024, is that the lawsuit should be dismissed because the action of the voters in adopting the charter amendments clearly violate the statute preemption statutes. (“There is no dispute that Ordinance No. 5908 is preempted by Tennessee state law as it currently stands. See Tenn. Code Ann. 39-17-1314(a).” City Memorandum, p. 3) Thus, since the voter approved charter amendments are preempted, the City argues, there is no risk that they can be enforced until there is a change in state law and consequently no one has standing to challenge the charter amendments.
Although the Memphis City Council is not a named party in the lawsuit, it has attempted to inject itself into the litigation by also asking the court to dismiss the complaint. It also argued that the voters’ adoption of the charter amendments that were requested by the City Council are similarly meaningless since those amendments violate the state preemption statutes and are thus unenforceable unless state law changes.
But, it is a curious that the sample ballot for the Memphis November 5, 2024, elections said nothing to indicate to the voters that the charter amendments that were recommended by the City Council in Ordinance 5908 violated state law or would otherwise be unenforceable even if every citizen in Memphis voted for them.
At this point, the Tennessee Attorney General, Jonathan Skrmetti, has not entered an appearance in the lawsuit to defend the state statutes’ preemption over the Memphis Charter Amendments or to otherwise challenge the potentially deceitful actions of the City Council in proposing these amendments without specifically disclosing in the amendments that they violated state law and would be unenforceable even if adopted.
The questions for the Circuit Court in Shelby County include
- what is the status of these voter approved charter amendments?
- is permitless carry going to be an offense in Memphis and if so, when?
- are “assault weapons” going to be banned in Memphis and if so does that start on January 1, 2025, as stated in the charter amendment?
- will Memphis courts have the capacity to issue “Red Flag” orders against individuals in Memphis and if so when?