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The Center Square [By Jon Styf] –
A gun control ballot initiative is back on Shelby County Nov. 5 ballot after Shelby County Chancellor Melanie Taylor Jefferson ruled in favor of the Memphis City Council, according to several media reports.
The ballot questions, which would be unbinding, have been the subject of debate and legal issues over the past several weeks.
The ballot questions ask about preventing individuals from carrying a handgun without a permit, banning the sale or possession of “assault rifles” in most cases with some exceptions and the addition of extreme risk protection orders, often referred to as red flag laws.
The measures were approved by the city council in July and then recently challenged by state legislative leaders, with House Speaker Cameron Sexton threatening to withhold shared state sales tax from Memphis if the referendum were on the ballot.
Memphis received $78 million in shared sales tax last budget year, State Affairs reported.
The Shelby County Election Commission then said it would follow direction from state leadership and not place the issues on the ballot.
Then the Memphis City Council announced it would challenge that ruling in a lawsuit.
About the Author: Jon Styf, The Center Square Staff Reporter – Jon Styf is an award-winning editor and reporter who has worked in Illinois, Texas, Wisconsin, Florida and Michigan in local newsrooms over the past 20 years, working for Shaw Media, Hearst and several other companies. Follow Jon on Twitter @JonStyf.
One Response
I am a resident of Tennessee and live in an adjacent county to Memphis. Crime is rampant in Memphis , including random shootings on the interstate Hwy, running through Memphis. It is unsafe to go there to use federal or state services, serve on a jury, go to a hospital or shopping at upscale stores. The state of Tennessee has reaffirmed our national constitutional right to be armed and possess firearms for self/family/business protection from those who would do us harm, including rogue government officials that would violate our rights and harm us or deprive us of liberty. Memphis has no over riding right to suppress our constitutional rights and deny us freedom or protections afforded by state or federal laws and the constitution. Memphis should be blockaded and all food, supplies and visitors prevented from reaching Memphis and any person a resident of Memphis contained therein until the officials there stop trying to block our constitutional rights. No citizen travel or money should be allowed to transfer to or from Memphis by any business or local agency, or citizen and officials of Memphis should in prison for civil rights violations and subject to 15 years in prison for that crime. Memphis should suffer and pay for attempting to deny civil rights to the people of Tennessee and visitors ,as well. If they cared about their people they would embrace the constitution and work to put DA’s and judges in place that will strictly punish criminals and remove them from Memphis and our states streets. Back up citizens who defend themselves with weapons from attack by criminals and make Robbery , car jacking, burglary, rape, murder and criminal felonious assault and battery, crimes that may receive life sentences without parole. Enforcing a three strikes felony law that makes life without parole or execution for habitual criminals, our state law. Enforcing fair and reliable elections and ending the extreme gerrymandering by the democrats for distorting voting results at large. A lot is wrong in Memphis and very little is good. That is why tens of thousands have left Memphis and will continue to leave until a fair and trustworthy government is reestablished in Memphis. Most(if not all) living people in Memphis have never known a fairly elected government there or know someone a victim of serious crime. Democrats have destroyed fairness, damaged our constitutional freedoms and wrecked the fabric of our society with ever increasingly Marxist and Totalitarian views and policy. When I drive in and about my area in Tennessee, I may have to drive in and out of Memphis for various reasons and I am always well armed and protected from the lack of law and order ,somewhat, by the weapons I carry for protection. My carrying a pistol kept me from an assault by three stupid men that may have left me dead or seriously beaten and injured, in a Walmart parking lot last year in a nearby suburb of Memphis. The local Police there investigated and acted in line with our constitutional rights and fully backed my right to self defense and released me, returning my pistol and commenting on my good judgement and professional looking defensive actions they reviewed on video tape. In Memphis , I have no doubt, I would have been arrested and made a victim twice and the offending Black criminals would have been released as victims for their assault on me. The chief investigating officer was black and he was a good man, fair and professional, looking at all the evidence, then returning my pistol and doing his job lawfully in respect to our constitution. What a difference political leadership makes in the quality of life and the level of freedom we enjoy rightfully, as outlined by our original constitution and the bill of rights.