The city of Memphis is like a lot of other anti-gun urban areas in pro-gun states. They think localities are best suited to decide what gun laws they need, but only if they’ll make things far stricter than state law. They’re not big fans of localities deciding less gun control is better.
To that end, they thought they could get around Tennessee’s preemption law.
To that end, they also got their posteriors sued.
Unsurprisingly, they lost, as GOA announced in a press release:
Gun Owners of America (GOA) and Gun Owners Foundation (GOF) are celebrating a major victory for Tennessee gun owners after the Shelby County Chancery Court rejected the City of Memphis’ unconstitutional and illegal gun-control ordinance.
In its ruling, the Court made clear that Memphis’ sweeping local gun restrictions were not just unlawful—but entirely void.
The following are two major points outlined in the order:
- The City CONCEDED its ordinance violates state law.
Memphis admitted that every line of its handgun-carry ban, vehicle-storage rule, so-called “assault rifle” ban, and red-flag scheme is 100% illegal under Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-17-1314. (Order pp. 3, 9–11)- The Judge called the ordinance “DEAD AS A DOORNAIL.”
The Chancellor wrote that “The Ordinance and those who proposed it engaged in ‘virtue signaling,’” but “the Ordinance is as dead as a proverbial doornail as a matter of Tennessee law.” (Order p. 6)Simply put, the Memphis ordinance is entirely unenforceable.
Erich Pratt, Senior Vice President of Gun Owners of America, issued the following statement:
“Memphis may be known as ‘Bluff City,’ but this ridiculous ordinance is a textbook example of a city passing an illegal law just to make a political point. Of course, Memphis was bluffing—and waved the white flag the moment GOA walked into court. The judge simply read their surrender out loud. Litigation like this is critical to defending law-abiding gun owners from reckless and unconstitutional actions by local politicians. Memphis’s deceitful ‘virtue signaling’ endangered residents and visitors alike, exposing them to unlawful prosecution. Such abuses have no place in a constitutional republic.”
John Velleco, Executive Vice President of Gun Owners Foundation, issued the following statement:
“Memphis just got schooled in Gun Law 101: You can’t ‘virtue-signal’ your way around a state preemption statute. The City admitted its ordinance is illegal, the judge branded it ‘dead as a proverbial doornail,’ and the court stamped it ‘not enforceable—full stop.’”
Of course, this is just one stop, and it’s entirely possible that Memphis will try to move this up the state’s judicial ladder, but I honestly don’t see any way the outcome is likely to be any different.
They thought they could pass gun control laws in a preemption state. There’s absolutely no way that’s permissible, and they just figured the rules wouldn’t apply to them. There’s no court in Tennessee that will look at these measures any differently, even if they were interested in preserving the individual measures had they been passed by the state legislature.
I find it hilarious, however, just how often anti-gunners suddenly discover federalism when it suits their purposes. It’s not like they generally take a bottom-up approach on any other issue; it’s just when they have a chance to make gun control as extensive and onerous as humanly possible that they step in and advocate for local control.
To say that I find this hypocrisy disgusting is to put it mildly.
It’s even worse since local ordinances are just misdemeanors, with no ramifications beyond the bare minimum, and thus are unlikely to prevent criminals from doing anything.
Yes, I’m glad GOA won this, and if Memphis appeals the decision, I hope they keep winning along the way until Memphis is spanked so thoroughly that no one will consider such stupidity again.
Unfortunately, stupidity is too stupid to get the message.
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