MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — The Memphis City Council filed a lawsuit Friday against the Tennessee city’s elections oversight board, alleging that the board removed three gun control issues from the November ballot after top Republican state leaders threatened to cut tens of millions of dollars in state funding.
Council President J.B. Smiley Jr. and several of his colleagues announced the lawsuit against the Shelby County Election Commission at a news conference. He said both Democratic and Republican council members support the ordinance that would put gun control measures before voters as officials try to address Memphis’ high violent crime rate.
The lawsuit seeks to reinstate the measures after they were removed from the committee’s ballot Tuesday without a public vote by its members. The referendum would ask voters whether to amend the city charter to require permits to carry a handgun, ban the possession of AR-15-style rifles and implement a so-called red flag ordinance, which allows law enforcement to confiscate firearms from those who pose an imminent danger to themselves or others.
“Memphis is shot and bleeding,” said Assemblywoman Jerri Green, before accusing the supermajority of Republicans in the state legislature of violating “their stated values.”
“There is nothing patriotic about refusing to let citizens vote in the polling booth,” Green said. “There is nothing pro-life about flooding our streets with weapons of war.”
On Monday, Tennessee Elections Coordinator Mark Goins sent a letter to the commission warning that the gun control referendum violated several Tennessee laws, making it invalid and off the ballot. The letter came hours after House Speaker Cameron Sexton and Senate President Randy McNally issued their ultimatum on state funding.
Goins added that “unequivocal statements from the General Assembly” left “no authority” for Memphis officials to propose such amendments to the city’s charter. Goins also raised concerns that the city had not properly followed the public notice procedures required to put a referendum on the Nov. 5 ballot.
In a statement Tuesday, Shelby County Elections Administrator Linda Phillips said Goins oversees the county’s elections and that the commission followed his direction to scrap the referendum. Phillips declined to comment Friday.
The council had acknowledged at times that it risked angering the Republican-dominated Legislature because the measures would likely run afoul of Tennessee’s lax gun laws.
In 2021, Republican lawmakers and GOP Gov. Bill Lee signed into law permitless carry of handguns. In May of this year, they banned local cities and counties from implementing their own red flag laws. Meanwhile, many within that same Republican supermajority have resisted calls to impose restrictions on firearms, an effort that has only intensified after a gunman killed three adults and three 9-year-olds at a Nashville private school last year.
The planned referendum prompted top Republican state lawmakers to threaten to pull funding, and Secretary of State Tre Hargett warned that his office would not approve the Memphis ballot if the gun initiatives were included.
“Cities cannot pick and choose which state laws they follow or not,” Hargett said in a statement Friday.
Members of the Tennessee legislature, which is majority white, have long targeted the predominantly black, left-leaning city of Memphis, criticizing city leaders for how they have addressed crime rates and how they have responded to the problem.
In 2023, the city saw a record 398 murders, while burglaries soared to more than 14,000. As of Friday, the city had seen 217 homicides, Memphis police said.
Still, the number of reported crimes in Memphis in the first half of 2024 remained below the levels seen in the first half of 2023 in nearly all major categories, including the violent crimes of murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault, according to preliminary figures from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
Last year, Memphis received nearly $78 million in sales tax revenue from the state. The city currently operates on a budget of $858 million.
City leaders and Democratic state lawmakers representing Memphis accuse Republican state lawmakers of drawing attention to the city’s crime problem while obstructing efforts to address it.
Smiley said the council has approved pay raises for police officers and crime prevention programs to try to keep residents safe. Smiley said 40 percent of the city’s budget goes to law enforcement.
“This should be a party that supports law enforcement,” Smiley said of Republican state leaders. “Instead, they’re telling the people of Memphis that they want us dead and they want us in poverty, too.”
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Associated Press reporter Jonathan Mattise contributed from Nashville, Tennessee.
