Pro-gun rights

Gun Owners of America Wins in Memphis—Judge Declares City’s Illegal Gun Control Ordinance “Dead as a Doornail”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 7, 2025

Memphis, TN — Gun Owners of America (GOA) and Gun Owners Foundation (GOF) are celebrating a major victory for Tennessee gun owners after the Shelby County Chancery Court rejected the City of Memphis’ unconstitutional and illegal gun-control ordinance.

In its ruling, the Court made clear that Memphis’ sweeping local gun restrictions were not just unlawful—but entirely void.

The following are two major points outlined in the order:

1. The City CONCEDED its ordinance violates state law.
   Memphis admitted that every line of its handgun-carry ban, vehicle-storage rule, so-called “assault rifle” ban, and red-flag scheme is 100% illegal under Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-17-1314. (Order pp. 3, 9–11)
2. The Judge called the ordinance “DEAD AS A DOORNAIL.”
   The Chancellor wrote that “The Ordinance and those who proposed it engaged in ‘virtue signaling,’” but “the Ordinance is as dead as a proverbial doornail as a matter of Tennessee law.” (Order p. 6)

Simply put, the Memphis ordinance is entirely unenforceable.

Erich Pratt, Senior Vice President of Gun Owners of America, issued the following statement:

“Memphis may be known as ‘Bluff City,’ but this ridiculous ordinance is a textbook example of a city passing an illegal law just to make a political point. Of course, Memphis was bluffing—and waved the white flag the moment GOA walked into court. The judge simply read their surrender out loud. Litigation like this is critical to defending law-abiding gun owners from reckless and unconstitutional actions by local politicians. Memphis’s deceitful ‘virtue signaling’ endangered residents and visitors alike, exposing them to unlawful prosecution. Such abuses have no place in a constitutional republic.”

John Velleco, Executive Vice President of Gun Owners Foundation, issued the following statement:

“Memphis just got schooled in Gun Law 101: You can’t ‘virtue-signal’ your way around a state preemption statute. The City admitted its ordinance is illegal, the judge branded it ‘dead as a proverbial doornail,’ and the court stamped it ‘not enforceable—full stop.’”

GOA spokesmen are available for interviews. Gun Owners of America is a nonprofit grassroots lobbying organization dedicated to protecting the right to keep and bear arms without compromise. GOA represents over two million members and activists. For more information, visit GOA’s Press Center.

-GOA-

The anti-gun Democrats are at it again! On Wednesday, November 12th, the House Judiciary Committee will vote on a dangerous bill that would create an electronic gun registry in Pennsylvania.

HB 1891 (Bellmon) will set up all the conditions necessary for the Pennsylvania State Police to enhance their so-called “Record of Sale” system which is nothing more than a backdoor gun registry.

Gun owners across Pennsylvania are not fooled by the rhetoric claiming that the Pennsylvania State Police “Firearm Application/Record of Sale” form (SP4-113) is not a handgun registry. We know better. And HB 1891 would allow the efficient collection of any additional data the government would decide to ask for at the point of sale using this electronic form.

If that wasn’t bad enough, the Democrats already passed Universal Background Check legislation in the House. If that bill and HB 1891 were signed into law, all firearms transactions in Pennsylvania would be electronically centralized and stored by the Pennsylvania State Police.

Make no mistake, the House Democrats are implementing Bloomberg’s agenda to register and track all firearms sales in Pennsylvania. And history informs us that when guns are registered, confiscation eventually occurs.

And this isn’t the first attempt to establish an electronic gun registry. In 2024, GOA members defeated a similar bill on the House floor. We can do so again if all gun owners take action.

That’s why I need you to send a message to your state representative right away (using the form above), urging them to vote AGAINST HB 1891. Let’s defeat the electronic gun registry bill once more.

President Donald Trump is calling on the Senate to use the “nuclear option” and eliminate the filibuster to reopen the government.

Destroying the filibuster would be a disaster for the Second Amendment. The truth is, the filibuster is the critical tool that GOA has used for years to DEFEAT:

• Mandatory gun registration
• Bans on common firearms
• Crushing restrictions on gun shows
• National gun confiscation laws
• And countless other gun-grabbing schemes

If the filibuster falls, no matter who demands it, the gun control crowd in Congress will ram every radical gun control bill into law.

If the filibuster is nuked, there will be nothing left to stop a flood of anti-gun legislation.

That’s why your action is absolutely critical, right now, Erich. I need you to send a message to your senators today. Tell them: Protect the filibuster and don’t give up the ONE tool that’s stopped gun control for decades! Enshrine the filibuster into law.

If anti-gun Democrats refuse to make the filibuster permanent, it only confirms their tyrannical plans down the road. Then Republicans should nuke it first and pass nationwide carry and repeal federal gun control.

Send a letter to your senators encouraging them to support codifying the filibuster into law.

Election day is tomorrow.

We’re asking that you make arrangements to vote, and remind your friends and family to do the same.

This election is incredibly important for gun rights; some of the highest positions of the state government are at stake, and protections for firearms are at serious risk because of anti-2A politicians.

GOA is proud to endorse candidate Winsome Earle-Sears for Governor.

Earle-Sears has demonstrated strongly throughout her tenure as VA’s Lieutenant Governor that the Second Amendment will be respected and protected in this state.

She’s made it clear that as Governor, she will do what is necessary to stop antigun bills such as assault weapon bans and red flag laws in their tracks, as well as push forward legislation that will restore and enforce gun rights in the Commonwealth.

Winsome excelled when it came to Gun Owners of America (GOA) and Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL) candidate surveys, exemplifying her awareness and commitment to a wide variety of gun rights issues.

Don’t wait until it’s too late. Make sure that you go out and vote, and support pro-2A candidates ballot box.

Use the state’s voter portal to confirm your registration by visiting https://vote.elections.virginia.gov/VoterInformation. You can check your registration status and find your polling place.

Tomorrow November 4, Election Day, polls will be open from 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. across the Commonwealth.

Your voice matters now more than ever; please consider standing up for your rights, defending the Second Amendment, and helping keep Virginia a state that values freedom and self-reliance.

Attorney General Pam Bondi and the DOJ have a trick up their sleeve: they want Firearms Policy Coalition and Second Amendment Foundation’s membership lists, all under the guise of “protecting” their members in a recent lawsuit. Thankfully, FPC and SAF refused to comply.

But this is alarming.

When the government has a list of people who belong to gun rights organizations, they effectively have a list of gun owners, which is the very start of a national registry. And we all know a registry can – and will – lead to confiscation.

It’s only a matter of time before the DOJ tries to exert its influence on GOA and attempts to obtain our membership list (which they’ll NEVER receive).

GOA has spent decades fighting government overreach, from the ATF’s pistol brace ban to the NFA’s unconstitutional restrictions. We’ve never backed down, and we’re not starting now.

But we need your help to fight this registration scheme with everything we’ve got.

It may take years. It may take an anti-gun, Democrat administration taking the reins. But eventually, these lists of gun owners will be abused – in the same way that gun registration in NY City during the 1960s led to gun confiscation in the 1990s.

Your donation ensures our legal team is ready to fight back against the registration scheme once the government comes for GOA’s membership list.

They’re not just coming for our membership lists, they’re coming for YOU.

Every gun owner. Every Second Amendment supporter. Every American who believes “shall not be infringed” means what it says.

We won’t let them win.

Attorney General Miyares is still attacking gun rights wins in Virginia.

Call his office at
(804) 786-2071, or tag him on X @JasonMiyaresVA

We recently informed you of how Attorney General Jason Miyares is challenging our big 2A wins.

Despite informing you and other GOA members to contact his office and tag him on social media, he’s not responding or changing course on any of the antigun actions we’re facing.

To recap, Miyares has done the following over the past month alone:

• Chose to defend Virginia’s unconstitutional One Handgun a Month law by making excuses for the drawn-out, discretionary permit process
• Failed to join twenty-six other Attorneys General filing an amicus brief to overturn Washington State’s magazine capacity restrictions
• Decided to push back on our win against so-called “Universal Background Checks” by arguing the court’s ruling only applies to handguns, the state should continue enforcing UBCs for rifles and shotguns, and that certain plaintiffs should be excluded from relief in Wilson v. Hanley

Virginians deserve better from Attorney General Miyares.

You can call the Office of the Attorney General at (804) 786-2071, or tag Jason Miyares directly on X (formerly Twitter) with @JasonMiyaresVA.

A simple message is most effective:

“Attorney General Miyares, I’m a proud Virginian and a supporter of Gun Owners of America. I’m calling to demand that you fully accept the court’s ruling in Wilson v. Hanley and immediately drop your appeals against the unconstitutional Universal Background Check law, as well as the One Handgun a Month restriction. I am urging you to stand with the people of this state and uphold the Second Amendment, not undermine it.

Tell Jason Miyares to ACCEPT the court’s ruling, to DROP the appeals of our wins against Universal Background Checks and One Handgun a Month.

The right to keep and bear arms is not a government-granted privilege; it’s a God-given liberty protected by the Second Amendment. Every Virginian deserves that freedom, and Gun Owners of America will continue to stand firm against Jason Miyares’ ongoing attempts to uphold restrictions on your rights.

With your support, we can send a powerful message to the Attorney General — urging him and his office to do the right thing and stand for gun rights across Virginia.

Finally, after you make your call, please make sure to watch Jared’s Guns & Gadgets episode from today.

Jared has called the AG’s office, and he reports on what he’s discovered in relation to Miyares’ plans regarding our victory on Universal Background Checks (UBCs)—and it’s not good news!

WASHINGTON, D.C. (October 31, 2025) – Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) announced today that a petition for a writ of certiorari has been filed with the Supreme Court of the United States in Schoenthal v. Raoul, an FPC-backed lawsuit asking the Court to overturn the Seventh Circuit’s dangerous decision upholding Illinois’s ban on carrying firearms on public transportation. The appellate court's ruling, the petition explains, shreds the clear command of the Constitution and defies the Supreme Court’s Second Amendment precedents.