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    • Memphis gun laws and ballot measures blocked by Tennessee legislature
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    Memphis gun laws and ballot measures blocked by Tennessee legislature

    Umito Posted on

    Voters in Memphis went to the polls on November 5 and received a long list of questions at the bottom of their ballot.

    They were asked six questions in total, spanning approximately four pages.

    • Three of them asked voters if they would allow the city of Memphis to enact three types of gun reforms.
    • One of them asked if it was possible to establish a second round for the municipal elections.
    • One asked voters who would set the salaries of top city officials.
    • Another asked voters if mayoral candidates had to have lived in the city for at least two years.

    Every question passed by an overwhelming majority.

    But only two of those ballot measures — allowing the Memphis City Council to set wages and establishing a condition of residence of the mayor – should come into force after their adoption.

    What will happen after gun reform receives widespread support in Memphis?

    The three gun reforms adopted by Memphians were put to a vote by the Memphis City Council, knowing full well that they would not be enforceable if passed.

    State law currently prohibits municipalities from establishing gun regulations and alarm signal laws.

    Top Tennessee Republicans, including House Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, were outraged by the measure. Sexton threatened to withhold sales tax revenue from Memphis, and Secretary of State Tre Hargett attempted to remove the referendums from the ballot.

    A judge rejected Hargett’s attempt after Memphis challenged the secretary of state in court and the gun measures will now act as “trigger laws” that will take effect if state laws regarding Guns needed to change, like the restrictions on abortion that took effect. after the decision of the United States Supreme Court.

    But supporters hoped the measures, while unenforceable, would provide an accurate representation of a large portion of Memphis voters who participated in the general election, which could sway state lawmakers who were previously reluctant to adopt gun reforms.

    After being re-elected to their seats on election night, Memphis Republican Reps. John Gillespie and Mark White both said they opposed permitless carry when it was passed by the General assembly. Gillespie also said he voted in favor of all three gun reforms.

    However, neither have expressed a commitment to allowing exceptions to state law for Memphis.

    Further opposition to enforcing the referendums occurred Wednesday evening when three gun rights organizations sued the city of Memphis in an attempt to prevent the ordinances from ever being enforceable.

    Sexton, who was an outspoken opponent of the referendums, did not respond to requests for comment on possible legislative action following the referendum results.

    Does Memphis need a judge’s ruling to institute a runoff election?

    While the fate of the gun measures clearly depends on the large Republican majority in the Tennessee General Assembly, the ballot question on the mayoral runoff election is slightly more vague.

    Memphis Mayor Paul Young was elected with just over 27% of the vote. His closest opponents, Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner and former Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton, received 22% and 21% of the vote, respectively.

    The referendum approved by Memphis voters will trigger a municipal runoff election that will result in no candidate winning more than 50 percent of the vote. In the case of the last mayoral election, Young and Bonner would have gone to a runoff.

    The runoff was one of the proposals submitted to the City Council due to vote splits in a race that saw 17 candidates. Another option discussed would have made municipal elections partisan and created primary and general elections. None of the city’s elected positions are currently partisan.

    Memphis last held runoff elections in the 1990s — with the exception of city council superdistricts currently experiencing runoff elections — but the city’s majority black population is much larger today. today than it was almost 30 years ago. This practice ended following complaints that the runoff elections were discriminatory.

    The case came to court in 1990 when Talib-Karim Muhammad – a former city councilman, activist and religious leader – was joined by other religious leaders and activists in a lawsuit accusing Memphis of discriminating against voters blacks using the second round of elections.

    In 1991, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit, also claiming that the city’s majority voting requirement violated the Voting Rights Act by diluting the black vote. Ultimately, the three lawsuits were consolidated into one and the DOJ took charge of the case.

    After four years of litigation, with elections on the horizon, a temporary injunction was granted by a federal judge and a temporary plan was adopted to prevent several municipal seats, including the mayor’s seat, from requiring a majority vote .

    In 1997, a federal judge “permanently” barred the city from imposing a majority voting requirement for citywide offices, including for mayor, municipal court clerk and municipal court judge . This decision implemented the rules that the city and DOJ established during the temporary injunction.

    With the referendum passing on election night, Memphis City Councilman Jeff Warren said the council may need another judge’s opinion on whether that ruling still stands.

    Allan Wade, the city council lawyer who also represented the city during that legal battle in the 1990s, said the prospect of holding a mayoral runoff requires additional research before commenting further, saying that This subject is “complex”.

    Umito
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