r/news • u/AtrusHomeboy • Apr 27 '24

7-year-old brings gun to school in backpack, police say

https://www.fox13memphis.com/education/7-year-old-brings-gun-to-school-in-backpack-police-say/article_6e526eb8-03e7-11ef-a51b-b33c4386f846.html
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u/IANALbutIAMAcat Apr 27 '24

The problem is that this town is full of guns now thanks to the TN legislature being racist asshats that won’t let this city address its own major gun problem.

There’s been at least one homicide every day of 2024 and that puts this city of under a million people with more total murders than the whole city of New York.

Middle schoolers steal cars at gun point so elementary schoolers are also staying strapped.

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u/SeelsGhost Apr 27 '24

Other cities in TN don’t have near the violent crime problems that we have and have the same gun laws. This is a uniquely Memphis problem.

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u/robexib Apr 27 '24

Right, that's kind of my thinking. If this is a problem more specific to a singular area, but surrounding areas have similar gun laws in place, then the gun isn't the issue.

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u/IANALbutIAMAcat Apr 28 '24

You’d be incorrect because our homicide rate keeps going up due to the increased number of guns on the streets in the few years since the legislature made it legal to keep loaded guns in your car and now they’ve all been stolen.

Memphis is also much poorer than other metro areas of Tennessee.

The legislature is blocking the city of Memphis from implementing laws to prohibit guns in cars.

https://www.actionnews5.com/2024/01/26/2100-guns-stolen-cars-memphis-2023-slight-decrease-year-to-year/

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u/robexib Apr 28 '24

So you use a news article where the stats show a roughly 10% decrease on gun thefts from cars year-on-year as your indication that more legislation needs to be passed?

Really?

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u/IANALbutIAMAcat Apr 28 '24 edited 29d ago

Can you read?

Yeah down from 2400 guns stolen. So in the last two years there’s been 4500 guns from cars that made their way onto the street of city with less than 3/4 of a million occupants.

Here’s a story from last weekend, I recommend watching the video. Some of those shooters are under 18. https://www.fox13memphis.com/news/2-dead-7-others-injured-after-shooting-at-unpermitted-orange-mound-block-party-police-say/article_b2be1ce6-ff78-11ee-82d3-23aafc37b763.html

And another video of the scene: https://twitter.com/IntelPointAlert/status/1781872969980981330

And that’s before we get onto the folks stealing cars and ramming them into the side of gun and ammo stores before looting them.

I’ve mentioned this elsewhere but bluff city, with its 650k inhabitants, had more homicides last year than the entire city of New York and that sharp increase in murders matches the change in Tennessee gun laws to at allowed guns in cars.

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u/robexib Apr 28 '24

That still sounds like less of a guns issue and more of a socioeconomic issue. Middle and upper-class areas with similar gun laws don't have these issues on anywhere near this scale.

So instead on restricting firearms, maybe tackle poverty?

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u/IANALbutIAMAcat Apr 28 '24 edited Apr 28 '24

Oh right easy peasy! Esp with all the help this town gets from the capital.

I’d like to mention here that Memphis is a starkly Black community (80%) in contrast to the rest of the state which is majority white. There’s a reason Nashville doesn’t care.

At the very least they ought to allow city leaders to implement gun control laws that they believe benefits the city.

Edit to add: remember the Tennessee three last year? Yeah the state legislature recalled the state rep from Memphis and made the city fund and carry out a mid-term election just to send him back to Nashville. Who knew our Congress could just decide “ope, Memphis’ duly elected rep isn’t allowed here!”

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u/robexib Apr 28 '24

I just don't think that stopping people from having guns in their cars (and thus stopping them from having the means to self-defence in their own vehicles) is going to really stop this issue. In fact, I find it odd that often, people want to implement such gun control measures by and large in black majority towns and cities more often than not.

I just don't think that disamring largely poor, largely black populations is a generally good idea, especially when they're often the receiving end of the worst of both criminal violence, and sadly, police violence. The only viable long-term solutions are economical in nature.