WKNO TRANSCRIPT
CHRISTOPHER BLANK (HOST): Shelby County lawmakers -- Democrats and Republicans -- are frustrated by the number of illegal guns on the streets. But that's where agreement ends. Can the people of Memphis do anything about it? With us again is Otis Sanford. Welcome back.
OTIS SANFORD: Thank you, Chris, always good to be with you.
BLANK: Okay, this is still a developing story: but it started when the Memphis City Council wanted to ask voters whether there should be some gun laws in this city, like a permit to carry a gun. Or not allowing people to walk around with assault rifles, which tends to freak people out. But these proposals contradict state law. So the first question, Otis: why are local lawmakers even trying to put these questions to voters?
SANFORD: Well, because they want to put a little bit of pressure -- not that it's going to make any difference --on the state legislature. And they feel that they can do that by letting the voters speak. They believe that Memphis voters will, by a wide margin, support all three of these referendum questions. And while even if they approve it, it won't go into law because state law has to be changed in order for it to happen. The city council -- and this is being led by Dr. Jeff Warren on the council -- believe that this is a way to at least let the voters speak and try to put a little bit of pressure on the legislature to let Memphis decide for itself if it wants to change these rules.
BLANK: So even if we vote on these, it's more of a symbolic vote. Why did Republicans then come back and say, look, if you pass these laws, we're gonna withhold your sales taxes? We're going to essentially defund your city. Rep. Justin Pearson called this "economic terrorism." Do they have a right to do that?
SANFORD: No, they don't have a right to do it. It's illegal. It's unconstitutional. You can't do that. This is saber-rattling at its worst, Chris. But they are threatening to do it just because this is -- and I've said this before -- one of the most vindictive and narrow-minded state legislatures that we've ever had in this state and probably in the country.
BLANK: Well, so then the latest question was whether these referenda could even appear on the ballot. And the Election Commission said no, you can't put them on the ballot. But the city says, well, voters can vote on anything they want to. Whether the laws are enforceable or not: that's up to the courts. And Otis, it does seem like Republicans have passed a number of state laws recently, like a drag ban, that were challenged in courts. Shouldn't Democrats be able to use the same tactic? You pass a law, you see if it sticks with a judge?
SANFORD: Well, of course. That's a time-honored way of doing it. It is the height of hypocrisy now to say that the City of Memphis can't even put this on the ballot knowing that they don't have to agree with the ballot issue. They can just ignore it when they meet in January. But they don't even want Memphis voters to even have a say on this, just because they are so gun-happy in Nashville.
BLANK: Well in a semi-related issue, there's an effort underway to oust Shelby County's District Attorney General Steve Mulroy. And Lt. Governor Randy McNally in an op-ed this week said that while Mulroy hasn't actually done anything wrong, kicking him out of office sends a strong message to those voters down in Shelby County. What is that message?
BLANK: The message is that "we Republicans can tell you people in Memphis" -- and I'm using you people intentionally here -- "we can tell you what to do." We can tell you who you can have in office, and if we don't like who you have an office, we can kick them out of office.
BLANK: Well, finally, Republican state Sen. Brent Taylor is the person spearheading this removal effort. He went to attack one of his critics on Twitter (X) this week and then posted confidential legal Information, which could be a Class B misdemeanor. The person he was criticizing happens to be a lawyer, and is now calling for an investigation into Sen. Taylor. Why is he losing his cool over this ouster drive?
SANFORD: Not only was it a lawyer, a prosecutor, but a Republican at that. Chris, I believe that it's time for Brent Taylor to have some intervention. He is losing it here. And I don't know what's causing this. Maybe, you know, he took a shot of some Republican serum somewhere. Or maybe he drank the Trump Kool-Aid. I don't know what he's done. But the problem here is that Brent Taylor is attacking everybody. Anybody who does not agree with him. I haven't heard him attack me quite yet. Maybe he'll get around to it now. But anyone who disagrees with him, whether it's Mr. Agee, whether it's MLK 50, whether it's even the Commercial Appeal that reprinted an article from MLK50 and Catherine Burgess. He is attacking them big time, and using social media to do it. What he did here was illegal. I do believe that there should be some kind of action taken -- maybe not necessarily a criminal charge -- but certainly some kind of censure, because he knows better than this. Or he should know better than to put something like this out on social media. This is a issue of him acting before thinking and shame on him for doing so.
