Life Of Slain Boy Recalled In Fight Against 'Community Terrorism'

By Sam Stockard, Tennessee Lookout

February 23, 2022

Twelve-year-old Artemis Rayford was killed by a stray bullet last Christmas Day as he played with a new game in his Memphis home. Not long before his death, he sent a letter to Gov. Bill Lee in which he told the governor the state’s new permit-less carry law is “bad and people will be murdered.”

The irony of young Artemis’ letter is not lost on family members who testified Wednesday about the impact his death had on them. They pleaded with lawmakers to adopt legislation to combat “community terrorism” and renew the state’s handgun permit law.

“It’s a real torment on the family,” the child’s grandmother, Joyce Newsom, told the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee.

His brothers and sisters don’t want to live in their home anymore, and his mother is struggling to cope with the loss, Newsom said.

“She keeps saying, ‘My baby came to me, but there was nothing I could do,’” Newsom said.

Angie Brooks, the child’s aunt, urged the subcommittee to bolster the state’s gun laws and renew requirements for a license to carry a weapon.

“My nephew was gunned down. He didn’t make it, but maybe we could save the next child,” Brooks said.

State Rep. G.A. Hardaway, who invited the family members to Nashville to testify, didn’t broach the permit-less carry legislation during the meeting. More than likely, it would be a non-starter in a gun-friendly legislative atmosphere.

Instead, the Memphis Democrat focused on House Bill 1321, which would create a Class C felony of reckless endangerment for firing weapons into a house or car and authorize the court to revoke or prohibit the issuance of a driver’s license to anyone convicted of those offenses. The subcommittee approved the measure on a voice vote, sending it to the full Criminal Justice Committee.

Gun violence in Memphis has become so “pervasive,” a comprehensive approach is needed to battle it, Hardaway said.

Memphis has been wracked by violent crime last year, some 30 shooting deaths of young people, Hardaway points out. He is also sponsoring HB1320, which would make it a criminal offense to force or coerce someone into joining a gang.

“I don’t care who says it is a new normal. It is not a new normal for a child to be buried by a parent. It’s unnatural. That ain’t the order of life,” Hardaway said Wednesday. “And we’re gonna fight to make sure that man-made instances where you bury a child, we’re going to deter these clowns from participating in street violence.”

That includes shooting randomly from cars and into cars, homes and crowds, acts of “community terrorism,” Hardaway said.

The Senate version of the bill, SB946, sponsored by Democratic Sen. Sara Kyle of Memphis has not been taken up yet by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

House Majority Leader William Lamberth, a Portland Republican, supported Hardaway’s efforts to combat violent crime.

“I can guarantee you that wasn’t the first time that criminal sprayed bullets through a neighborhood,” Lamberth said, noting lawmakers want to provide the tools to make neighborhoods safer.

The family didn’t know about Artemis’ letter to the governor until after he was killed. He wrote it as part of a DARE program at school.

“That was something amazing for him to put in his letter about the gun law that he thinks people certain ages shouldn’t be allowed to tote guns. And for him to get killed by a bullet himself,” his grandmother said. “That was something that really touched us.”

They don’t know the age of the person who fired the shot. Police identified a vehicle involved in the shooting but couldn’t get a tag number from the video, she said.

Artemis’ family isn’t necessarily trying to push the Legislature to overturn the permit-less carry law it passed in 2021. But they believe it makes sense for people to be licensed to carry handguns.

I don't care who says it is a new normal. It is not a new normal for a child to be buried by a parent. It's unnatural. That ain't the order of life.

– Rep. G.A. Hardaway, D-Memphis

“You have to have permits, licenses to do everything in the city, so why not have a license or permit to carry a gun?” Newsom said. “Because a lot of people are thinking that because I’ve got a gun, I’m safe. That don’t make you safe. And really it’s the innocent people getting killed by these guns. It’s not the people that are carrying the guns, that think they’re tough because they’ve got the guns.”

Background checks and training requirements could stop some people from carrying weapons, she added, “because right now, people are just going on the street and buying guns, and they ain’t worried about it because if the police stop them, you ain’t got to have no permit to carry. So you’ve got nothing to worry about. There’s not any fear in the people who carry these guns.”

Hardaway said law enforcement officers have told him the new permit-less carry law makes it more difficult for them to identify people who shouldn’t be carrying weapons.

Law enforcement officials lobbied against the bill last year, but the Republican-controlled Legislature passed Gov. Lee’s bill anyway. He later signed it into law.

“We’ve got to find a way to respect what the governor and Legislature have done in terms of permit-less carry,” Hardaway said.

But protection is needed for law enforcement officers to enable them to quickly determine who should not be carrying weapons. In addition, training is needed for those who can legally carry weapons, he said.

Under the new law, anyone over 21 is allowed to carry a weapon as long as they are a law-abiding citizen and not convicted of a felony or violent crime.

As usual, the Legislature is dealing with a spate of gun bills.

Legislation sponsored by Rep. Chris Todd, R-Jackson, would lower the age to carry a concealed handgun to 18 from 21. It passed a subcommittee this week and will be heard next by the Civil Justice Committee.

In addition, a subcommittee this week approved legislation that will turn a six-year conceal-carry permit into a lifetime permit.

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