Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland blamed weak gun laws and the “revolving door” at 201 Poplar for the city’s crime problem on Monday.
In a statement posted on social media, Strickland pointed to two examples of how Tennessee laws allow violent offenders to keep committing crimes.
Read the mayor’s full statement below:
City government and police have zero tolerance for gun violence. But the court system and state law enable it with the proliferation of guns, low bonds, and weak sentences. This must stop.Example 1: Tennessee law makes most crimes of shooting a gun at another person Aggravated Assault, where prison time is not mandatory. In 2021, 25% of people convicted in Shelby County Criminal Court for these types of shootings were put on probation (no prison), and another 37% served less than one year in prison.Example 2: Over 1,600 people were arrested last year for car theft and breaking into cars, and 447 in the first 3 months of this year. As we have seen, almost all of them are armed with guns. Almost none of them were detained, punished, or rehabilitated; they were simply released with no consequences, thanks to the court system’s revolving door.
The mayor’s statement comes not even 24 hours after gunfire erupted at Huey’s in East Memphis and two people were shot on Beale Street in broad day light.
