For almost a year now, officials in Memphis have been touting a planned referendum that would allow residents to vote on a variety of gun control measures, including opting out of the state’s permitless carry law, prohibiting the possession and sale of “assault rifles”, and creating a local “red flag” law. Earlier this week, however, the Shelby County Election Commission and the Secretary of State rejected the referendum language, pointing out that all of those measures are already preempted by state law.
Now the city is suing the election commission for its decision, claiming it’s “unpatriotic and un-Christian” to block the referendum from appearing on November’s ballot.
“Around 10:20 we filed a lawsuit against the Shelby County Election Commission,” Chairman JB Smiley Jr said. “The members of the public have spoken, the law enforcement community has spoken, Democrats in Shelby County have spoken, Republicans have spoken.”
Smiley said the council complied with all laws in the state of Tennessee when the council passed the ballot referendums. He also said the city would “not back down.” Councilwoman Jerri Green called the move by Republican leadership unpatriotic and unChristian.
“There is nothing patriotic about refusing to let citizens see their voices in their voting booth,” Green said.
Smiley and Green stood with Councilwomen Jana Swearinger-Washington, Yolonda Cooper-Sutton and Pearl Eva Walker during the press conference.
“Why do you want us to not be safe? Why do you want us to be poor?… Why do you want to break this community?” Walker said. “Because where we are with this gun violence and these ridiculous laws we cannot sustain like this. We have to stake a stand on behalf of our government independence.”
No level of government, be it federal, state, county, or local, has the authority to infringe on a constitutionally protected right. And in Tennessee, the legislature has made it clear that it, not political subdivisions, is the body that determines a uniform body of gun laws throughout the state. […]
— Read More: bearingarms.com