Tennessee boy, 12, is shot dead after writing letter to state Gov. Bill Lee ...

Tennessee boy, 12, is shot dead after writing letter to state Gov. Bill Lee ...
Tennessee boy, 12, is shot dead after writing letter to state Gov. Bill Lee ...

A Tennessee boy who wrote a letter to the governor expressing concern about the state's new gun law, which lets most adults conceal or open carry without a permit, was shot and killed by a stray bullet on Christmas morning.

Artemis Rayford was at home playing with a new video game - one of his gifts - when he was randomly shot in the chest and killed in the Orange Mound neighborhood of Memphis. No arrests have been made in his death.

Just before winter break, he had written a letter to Gov. Bill Lee about a new gun law that went into effect on July 1 last year. It allows people 21 and over to carry a gun, openly or not, without a permit or safety training.

'I am a 6th grader at Sherwood Middle School and it is my opinion that this new law will be bad and people will be murdered and I think that people should not have a gun,' Artemis wrote, according to a letter sent to his family by his teacher and published by Memphis station WREG

Memphis reached a record 346 homicides in 2021. Thirty-one of them were kids. Last year's killings beat the previous record of 325 in 2020. 

Artemis Rayford, 12, was at home playing with a video game he got for Christmas when he was shot in the chest and killed by a stray bullet on December 25

Artemis Rayford, 12, was at home playing with a video game he got for Christmas when he was shot in the chest and killed by a stray bullet on December 25

Before winter break, he had written a letter to Tennessee's governor about a new gun law that lets most adults open or conceal carry a gun without a permit or safety training

Before winter break, he had written a letter to Tennessee's governor about a new gun law that lets most adults open or conceal carry a gun without a permit or safety training

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, 62, has had to defend the law as Memphis breaks homicide records. Last year, a mass shooting at a grocery store killed one woman and injured 13 others

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, 62, has had to defend the law as Memphis breaks homicide records. Last year, a mass shooting at a grocery store killed one woman and injured 13 others

Artemis wrote the letter before school broke for winter break, according to the Washington Post. It is unclear what the assignment was or if Gov. Lee, a Republican, ever received the letter.  

'How did this child [who wrote] this letter about guns end up losing his life over a gun?' asked his grandmother Joyce Newson, 65. 'What kind of coincidence is that? That's powerful to me.' 

In it, Artemis said he was part of the Memphis Police Department's Gang Resistance Education and Training (GREAT) program, meant to discourage gang activity and violence among kids.

He talked about his state's new gun law, which raises penalties for those who commit a range of gun crimes, even as it allows for adults 21 and over - and military members over the age of 18 - to open or concealed carry a gun without a permit.  

'Some of [these] people get gun to kill people so people that [are] 21 and up should not have gun so they [should]

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