News/Commentary

Memphis restaurant owner stands by his decision to refuse National Guard members service

July 17, 2026 | | Print Article

Miles Tamboli, the owner of Tamboli’s Pasta & Pizza in Memphis, is standing by his decision to turn away four Tennessee National Guardsmen, suggesting the troops are making the city less safe because people are full of fear.

Admitting that the pizzeria was forced to shut down its phones because of the blowback on his decision, Tamboli told local affiliate WREG that the negative impact on the business “confirms why this matters.”

Democrat-run Memphis had one of the highest violent crime rates in the U.S. in 2024, prompting the Trump administration to create the Memphis Safe Task Force, involving federal agencies, Memphis PD, Tennessee Highway Patrol, and National Guard. Troops were deployed in early October 2025, acting primarily as “eyes and ears,” rather than making arrests themselves.

Crime has dropped substantially since then, though critics claim the decrease built on a pre-existing downward trend.

Tamboli released a long-winded statement about disrespecting Guardsmen being the right decision.

“On Saturday night, we declined to serve four uniformed members of the Memphis Safe Task Force, and I stand behind that decision completely,” the owner said. “I love this country, and I love this city, and that is exactly why I made this call. I want Memphis to be safe. Every business owner does. And the honest truth is that Memphis was already getting safer before this Task Force ever arrived.”

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Stating that crime “was at a 25-year low through the first eight months of 2025,” Tamboli insisted that this progress “was earned by the people of this city. It was not delivered by soldiers.”

He went on to disparage the National Guard, while citing America’s founders to justify his stance.

“What the Task Force has actually done is make this city harder to live in. Its own records show that the overwhelming majority of its arrests began with routine traffic stops, not violent crime,” Tamboli charged. “Families in this city are now afraid to drive to work, afraid to take their kids to school, afraid to be seen. Our own schools reported that fear drove children to stop showing up to class. And this month, a 20-year-old Memphian named Tyrin Johnson was shot and killed by National Guard troops during a foot chase, with no body camera footage and no answers for his family. None of that makes us safer. It makes us less safe, and it does the most damage to the people who were already struggling.”

(Johnson was armed and reportedly turned his weapon on soldiers while fleeing police during a downtown foot chase.)

“Being pro-safety means telling the truth about what actually protects a community, and it is not soldiers trained for combat doing the work of police officers. That mismatch is dangerous for the people of Memphis and dangerous for the troops themselves, who were sent here to do a job they were never trained for,” Tamboli concluded. “The founders wrote their objection to standing armies among the people into the Declaration of Independence itself, because they understood that a free country does not let the military police its own citizens. That principle is older than any political party, and I am not willing to abandon it because it became inconvenient.“

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State Rep. John Gillespie (R), who represents parts of Memphis, pushed back on the criticism.

“The National Guard has cut crime and saved hundreds of lives in Memphis. It is unconscionable they would be refused service by the very people they are here to protect. I’m fighting against this insanity to ensure Memphians are safe and our laws are enforced. Thank you to everyone who serves,” Gillespie said in a post shared online.

Here’s a quick sampling of responses to the story, as seen on X:

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