Next month, voters in Memphis will vote on a non-binding referendum calling on the legislature to exempt the city from Tennessee’s Constitutional Carry law, as well as allowing it to adopt a gun storage ordinance requiring gun owners to lock up their firearms out of sight while storing them in a vehicle. While city leaders are backing the referendum in the hopes of chiseling away at the state’s firearm preemption law, the recent and repeated arrests of a Memphis teenager is evidence that city doesn’t need new gun control laws. Instead, it needs to get serious about violent crime.
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19-year-old Javarious Sistrunk was first arrested back in June after he was accused of stealing tools. A judge quickly released Sistrunk from custody without having to post bond, allowing him to return to the streets with the promise that he’d show up in court when needed.
In late September, Sistrunk was once again placed in cuffs; this time for allegedly bringing a loaded and stolen gun onto the campus of Hamilton High School. Once again, the young man was released on his own recognizance despite the serious nature of the charges against him. And according to WMC-TV, it wasn’t long before Sistrunk was arrested for a third time.
Monday morning around 9:00 a.m., a woman was walking to the store along South Parkway at Worthington when she said three young men approached her and robbed her at gunpoint.
Witnesses told police they saw the three suspects go into the Dollar General on Lamar Avenue. When MPD arrived, they said they found the suspects standing around the ATM. They said they identified Sistrunk by the clothing he was wearing, which matched what the victim told investigators.
The arrest report also said MPD found the victim’s cell phone in the trash next to the ATM, and they found two guns hidden behind merchandise in the store.
Court documents show that on Tuesday, October 1, Judicial Commissioner Kevin Reed set an $80,000 bond for Sistrunk, noting in the bail screening form that he was charged with a crime while released on bail for a previous offense.
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As WMC-TV reports, back in 2022 Shelby County, Tennessee made “reforms” to its bail system that officials promised would “make the county’s system fairer”. Instead, the TV station found that since those reforms were put in place, more defendants are getting released on their own recognizance, and the re-arrest rate for felony offenses has increased as well.
Sistrunk wasn’t legally eligible to carry a firearm when he was busted with a stolen gun on the campus of Hamilton High, so the city ordinance that Memphis officials are pushing for wouldn’t have applied even it had been in place. Shelby County officials had every tool they needed to hold Sistrunk behind bars until trial as a danger to public safety, or at least require him to post a significant bond before being set free. Instead, they allowed him to stroll out of jail without paying a penny in bail, just to see him arrested and charged with armed robbery a few days later.
Lawful gun owners who are legally carrying aren’t responsible for the violent crime plaguing Memphis, Tennessee. There’s a relatively small group of prolific offenders who are carrying out these violent crimes with little concern for the consequences of their actions. That’s who Memphis should be targeting, but instead of cracking down on them, officials are trying to curtail the Second Amendment rights of responsible gun owners in the name of public safety.
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Given the liberal political tilt in Memphis, I have no doubt that the gun control referendum will be approved by voters in November, but the policies the city is pushing for in the non-binding referendum won’t make residents any safer. The answer is simple: crack down on those responsible for committing these crimes. The question is why won’t Memphis leaders take that simple step instead of infringing on our fundamental civil rights?
