On November 18, 2024, Janice Bowling, a Tennessee Senator for District 16, issued an official comment stating her support on the
lawsuit
that was filed by Tennessee Firearms Association, Gun Owners of
America, Gun Owners Foundation and Ty Timmermann against the City of
Memphis.
Senator Bowling, the Senate sponsor of
Senate Bill 2763 (113th General Assembly), in 2024 in the Tennessee Legislature which further
clarified that the State of Tennessee preempted all local regulation of
firearms, in any manner.
The 2024 legislation specifically addressed
the issue of “Red Flag” laws which are also commonly referred to as
“extreme risk protection orders.” The 2024 law, which is enacted as
Public Chapter 1062
(2024), states, in relevant part, that “the general assembly preempts
the entire field of legislation regarding extreme risk protection orders
to the exclusion of all county, city, town, municipality, or
metropolitan government law, ordinances, resolutions, enactments, or
regulation.”
The City of Memphis blatantly disregarded Tennessee’s preemption
statutes when it submitted to voters the enactment of an ordinance which
contained three provisions regarding the local regulation of firearms.
One of those provisions specifically addressed “Red Flag” laws.
Tennessee Firearms Association has heard from several other state legislators who similarly support the litigation against the City of Memphis and we appreciate their support!
However, one might ask why are nonprofit, grassroots organizations like the Tennessee Firearms Association and Gun Owners of America filing this lawsuit? Why has Governor Bill Lee not filed the lawsuit on behalf of the State of Tennessee? Why has the Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti not filed to stop the City of Memphis from violating state law? At this point, Tennessee Firearms Association can't answer those obvious questions and it did not want to wait around for them to act since these ordinances are clear violations of not only state law but the 2nd Amendment.
If you are interested in helping fight these clearly illegal and unconstitutional acts by Memphis, you can do so by:
