FireArm Friday: Gun Rights Activists Sue Memphis Over Ballot Measure
Gun rights activists have filed a lawsuit to halt new gun control measures in Memphis, Tennessee, which were approved through a ballot measure in the 2024 election.
The ballot measure first asks whether people should be allowed to carry a handgun in the city of Memphis without possessing a valid handgun carry permit. The question runs in contrast to existing Tennessee law, which allows permitless carry in the state.
A second question under the ballot measure is whether voters support a laws in Memphis known as “extreme risk protection orders,” often referred to as “red flag” laws, that would authorize a court to allow law enforcement authorities to seize a person’s firearms if the court deems that person a threat, even if they’ve committed no crime.
A third question under the ballot measure asks whether Memphis should ban the possession and commercial sale of so-called “assault rifles”—a term not actually defined by the ballot measure.
More than 80 percent of voters voted in favor of the gun control proposals described in each of the three questions under the ballot measure.
Individual plaintiff Ty Timmerman filed a complaint in the state’s 30th Judicial Court District on Nov. 13, along with the the Tennessee Firearms Association, Gun Owners of America (GOA), and …