Senator Blackburn talks National Guard deployment to Memphis

JACKSON, Tenn. — In our continuing coverage, we speak with Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn following President Trump’s decision to send the National Guard to Memphis.

According to Blackburn, during the summer, the FBI and Memphis Police Department made more than 500 arrests of gang members and more than 120 indictments in an effort to restore law and order and make certain the criminal gangs are removed from Memphis.

Blackburn says having the guard in Memphis will solidify logistics along with federal agencies efforts to help local law enforcement target the location of the gangs and apprehend them.

The second phase of this initiative has 13 agencies involved with Memphis PD including the FBI, ATF, DEA, U.S. Marshals, DOJ, and DHS.

Senator Blackburn also assures that both Republicans and Democrats have worked hard to get their spending bills out to the senate appropriations committee and to the floor of the senate to avoid any potential government shut down.

“With the amount of cooperation that you are seeing throughout West Tennessee, I don’t think these gangs are going to want to be anywhere near Memphis, Shelby County or West Tennessee because they know that there is a very active, very well coordinated effort that is supported,” said Senator Blackburn.

In additional efforts going forward, Senator Blackburn has a piece of legislation that would end cashless bail in cities along with introducing a ‘restoring law and order’ bill to push forward grants to local law enforcement in efforts with senator Bill Hagerty.

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