In a decision unprecedented in state history, Republicans in Tennessee have expelled two of three Democratic lawmakers who joined in a public protest at the state capitol calling for gun control measures, following a mass school shooting that killed six people in Nashville.
State House lawmakers first voted 72-25 to remove Rep Justin Jones, part of a trio of lawmakers who stood on the floor of the state House of Representatives, gave speeches, and joined in chants from protesters present in the House gallery last Thursday. They later decided to remove Justin Pearson, one of the other two lawmakers who joined in the floor protest.
In the gallery, demonstrators chanted, “Shame on you!” and “Fascists!” following the vote on Rep Pearson’s tenure.
Ahead of his expulsion, Rep Jones defended his choice to join in with the protesters, saying he had repeatedly been denied the chance to speak out on the House floor and felt he needed to give his constituents a voice nonetheless.
“I was standing for those young people, those young people many of whom come from my district, many of whom can’t even vote yet, many of whom are disenfranchised, all of whom are terrified by the continued trend of mass shootings plaguing our state and plaguing this nation,” he said during an impassioned speech on Thursday.
The Nashville Democrat also pushed back against criticisms from Republican Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton that the protest was equivalent to the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol.
“I was shocked to have the Speaker of House condemn mothers and grandmothers and children and concerned clergy, lie on them, and say they were insurrectionists,” Rep Jones said. “At no point was there violence. At no point did we encourage violence. In fact what we were doing was calling for the end of gun violence that is terrorizing our children day after day after day, and all we offer are moments of silence.”
The GOP supermajority also took up a vote on Thursday over whether to expel Democratic Rep Gloria Johnson.
Rep Johnson, a former school teacher, was able to hang on to her seat, with Republicans falling one vote short of the 66 needed to cement an expulsion. Audible cheers were heard on the house floor when the decision was announced.
During remarks from the House floor on Thursday, Rep Johnson talked about being a teacher in Colorado, where she taught a group of students who survived the infamous Columbine school shooting. She said that experience was on her mind when she joined with protesters in Tennessee calling for more gun control.
“It should never ever happen again for any parents, for any child, for any classroom,” she said. “Many of my colleagues walked post those folks without ever making eye contact with them. I cried with them that morning. I told them that I understand. I told them I would lift their voices and try to get something of substance done.”
Fellow Democrats rallied to the defence of the three representatives on the chopping block, calling the expulsions undemocratic because they silenced lawmakers and, by proxy, their constituents.
“I think it scares people in this room that he [Justin Jones] can speak to the people and speak for the people, in a way that many of us in this room can’t. I urge you not to vote to expel. We need his voice,” Bob Freeman, a Nashville Democrat, argued. “We cannot silence those people.”
During debate surrounding Mr Jones’s expulsion, Representative Gino Bulso, a Republican from Brentwood, defended the removal process, calling it an appropriate response to the “mutiny” that was the floor protest.
“What we’re doing today is upholding our constitution,” he said. “We are protecting the integrity of this body.”
Rep Justin Pearson, one of the three who joined the floor protest, pointed to how previous lawmakers have been expelled for criminal conduct like bribery and sexual assault, and said sending the trio of Democrats out of the statehouse would be both undemocratic and racist.
“It is no coincidence that the two youngest Black lawmakers in the state of Tennessee, and one of two women, are on trial today,” he told CNN ahead of the vote. “That is not accidental. This is what happened when you lose democracy.”
Earlier in the day, the trio of Democrats received a rapturous welcome outside the capitol chamber from protesters who have been calling for new gun laws after the Covenant School shooting, in which three adults and three children aged nine were murdered by a former student armed with a legally-purchased assault rifle.
Following the Nashville shooting, leaders and lawmakers in the Republican-controlled state government have proposed massive new investments in school safety, including providing $140m for putting more armed police officers in public schools, but have stopped short of placing any limits on access to guns.
The Covenant School, where gunman Audrey Hale killed three students and three staff members, is a private elementary school, and some teachers there already carried guns.
As The Independent has reported, research suggests armed police officers in schools don’t stop shootings from happening or being more severe, and sometimes make things worse.
Tennessee governor Bill Lee has suggested a potential openness to finding ways to remove gun access from dangerous people, but hasn’t put forth any definitive proposals to that effect.
The state permits most residents 21 and older to carry handguns openly or concealed without a permit, and GOP lawmakers are considering further loosening restrictions to firearm access.
