Community activists call for action against gun violence

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - Sunday was a day of lamenting and calling for action in honor of the late-Reverend Autura Eason-Williams.

Eason-Williams, a United Methodist minister, was shot and killed last July during a botched carjacking.

“Gun violence is taking our people,” said Reverend Dr. Rosalyn R. Nichols with MICAH.

According to the Memphis Police Department, there have been 232 homicides in 2023—65 more than the same time last year.

“We have to hold the public officials accountable,” Nichols added.

So, after the service, the friends and family of Eason-Williams set up a table with flyers for the attendees to sign and send to Tennessee Governor Bill Lee ahead of the special session set to take place on August 21.

According to the articles, they want Governor Lee to pressure lawmakers to make meaningful legislation on gun reform—specifically, the extreme risk protection orders the governor has recently public ally endorsed.

“We need to vote, we need to tell them what we want them to do and then we need to make them do it,” Nichols said with cheers erupting in the crowd. “They work for us, not the other way around.”

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