MEMPHIS (AP) — The Memphis City Council on Friday sued the commission that oversees the Tennessee city's elections for removing three gun control questions from the November ballot after top Republican state leaders threatened to withhold tens of millions of dollars in state funding.
Council Chairman JB Smiley Jr. and some 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 the gun control measures before voters as officials try to address Memphis' high rates of violent crime.
The lawsuit seeks to have the measures reinstated after they were removed from the ballot by the commission on Tuesday without a public vote by its members. The referendum would ask voters if they want to tweak 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 officials to remove firearms from those found to be an imminent danger to themselves or others.
"Memphis has been shot and is bleeding out," council member Jerri Green said. She then accused the super-majority of Republicans in the state Legislature of going against "their stated values."
"There is nothing patriotic about refusing to let citizens use their voices in the voting booth," Green said. "There is nothing pro-life about flooding our streets with weapons of war."
On Monday, Tennessee's election coordinator, Mark Goins, sent a letter to the commission warning that the gun control referendum violated several of Tennessee's laws, making it void and ineligible to be placed on the ballot. The letter was sent hours after House Speaker Cameron Sexton and Senate Speaker Randy McNally issued their state funding ultimatum.
Goins added that "unequivocable declarations by 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 Administrator of Elections Linda Phillips said Goins guides the county's elections and the commission followed his direction in removing the referendum. Phillips declined comment Friday.
The council had acknowledged at times that they were potentially risking the ire of the Republican-dominant Legislature since the measures likely conflict with Tennessee's lax gun laws.
In 2021, Republican lawmakers and GOP Gov. Bill Lee signed off on permitless carry for handguns. In May of this year, they banned local cities and counties from implementing their own red flag laws. Meanwhile, many inside that same Republican supermajority have rebuffed calls to place limits on firearms, an effort that has only increased after a gunman shot and killed three adults and three 9-year-olds in a Nashville private school last year.
The planned referendum prompted the state's top Republican lawmakers to threaten to withhold funding and led Secretary of State Tre Hargett to warn that his office would not approve Memphis' ballot if it included the gun initiatives.
"Cities do not get to pick and choose which state laws they will or won't follow," Hargett said in a statement Friday.
Members inside Tennessee's white-majority Legislature have long singled out majority-Black, left-leaning Memphis, criticizing city leaders for how they have managed crime rates and how they were responding to the issue.
In 2023, the city saw a record-breaking 398 homicides, while burglaries jumped to more than 14,000. As of Friday, the city had seen 217 homicides, according to the Memphis Police Department.
However, the rate of reported crime in Memphis for the first half of 2024 remained below the first half of 2023 in almost 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 from the state's sales tax revenue. The city currently operates an $858 million budget.
City leaders and Democratic state lawmakers representing Memphis have accused Republican state legislators of putting a spotlight on the city's crime problem while standing in the way of efforts to combat it.
Smiley said the council has approved salary increases for police officers and crime intervention programs to try to keep residents safe. Smiley said 40% of the city's budget goes toward law enforcement.
"This is supposed to be a party who supports law enforcement," Smiley said of the Republican state leaders. "Instead, what they're telling the people of Memphis, they want us dead and they also want us in poverty."
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Associated Press reporter Jonathan Mattise contributed from Nashville, Tennessee.