Smiley: Gun-control referendum will be on November ballot
“They’ve always been giving us the bare minimum. I don’t anticipate them doing anything more,” Memphis City Council Chairman JB Smiley Jr. said of the Tennessee Legislature. “They never have. They have consistently treated Shelby County like a stepchild.” (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian file)
Memphis City Council Chairman JB Smiley Jr. says the gun-control referendum is going to voters in November.
Smiley said there has been a lot of discussion between the council, leaders of the Tennessee Legislature and local business leaders on the way to the ballot’s finalization.
“Robust, often, every day,” is how Smiley described the discussions during an interview on the WKNO-TV program “Behind The Headlines,” which airs Friday at 7 p.m.
Memphis gun-control questions can go on the ballot. For now.
The private discussions in the week since the Chancery Court ruling, which ordered the three-part gun-control question be put on the ballot, have come after public threats by state Republican legislative leaders to withhold sales-tax revenue from Memphis if the referendum moves ahead.
“I think there are folks who are trying to find a middle ground. Kudos to them,” he said. “Those elected leaders and those business leaders have quickly come to the same conclusion that I have. They (legislative leaders) don’t care about Shelby County. It’s less to do about the people and more to do about the politics.”
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Bill Dries
Bill Dries covers city and county government and politics. He is a native Memphian and has been a reporter for more than 40 years.
Samuel Hardiman
Samuel Hardiman is an enterprise and investigative reporter who focuses on local government and politics. A native Rhode Islander who lives in Midtown, he enjoys tennis, golf and reading.
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