1). “Tennessee Republicans Are Trying to Expel Three House Democrats for Siding With Kids on Gun Control: The Democrats have already been stripped of their committee assignments”, April 3, 2023, Prem Thakker, The New Republic, at <https://newrepublic.com/post/171582/tennessee-republicans-expel-democrats-gun-control>.
2). “Tennessee Republicans Are Literally Trying to Purge Democrats from the Legislature”, Gun Control, April 4, 2023, Eric Lutz, Vanity Fair, at <https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/04/tennessee-republicans-purging-democrats-from-legislature-gun-control-protest>
3). “Chants of ‘fascists’ as Tennessee House Republicans try to expel Democrats for protest over shooting: Three legislators are facing expulsion from the GOP-dominated chamber”, April 5, 2023, Abe Asher, The Independent, at <https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/tennessee-house-republicans-expel-democrats-b2314191.html>
4). “Double standard? Tennessee GOP seeks to oust 3 Democrats”, April 4, 2023, KIMBERLEE KRUESI and JONATHAN MATTISE, Associated Press (AP), at <https://apnews.com/article/tennessee-lawmakers-expulsion-gun-control-98fbc28d28aeb3956e1f0ea91cd33e3f>.
Introduction by dmorista: These four articles all contain information about the outrageous actions aimed to silence dissent by 3 Democratic members of the State House, measures being taken by the Republican Legislative Leadership in the Tennessee State Legislature. Two times now large crowds of Nashville area students demanding changes in the state’s extremely lax gun laws; these protests were in the wake of the recent mass shooting that killed 6 people, including 3 nine-year old students, at Covenant Presbyterian School in Nashville.
The Leadership, and many members, of the Tennessee House of Representatives made outlandish statements about school children protesting at the State Capitol, and even physically assaulted one of the 3 Democratic members who joined in chants with the school children present in the Legislative Gallery. The House Speaker even called 9 and 10 year old elementary school students “insurrectionists”. That was part of an overall attempt to portray the student assemblies at the State Capitol as being equivalent to the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol building. The three Democratic House Members who stood with the students are scheduled for a vote to expel them from the Tennessee House today. A couple of the 3 the Republican leadership plans to expel today pointed out that the Republican Leadership of the State Legislature has protected members accused of sexual abuse of underage girls, and one current member who is under indictment for fraud. Another set of Republican members are accused of protecting a member accused of illegally prescribing drugs for a Cousin-Mistress.
Of course, it is no surprise to see this sort of behavior from a gaggle of Republicans who constantly protect the corporations and the rich who own them, and who are still trying to loosen gun regulations in the state. Democrats are also part of the system that protects the rich and the corporations that they own. The callousness of the Republican members of the state House in ignoring and criticizing children, and even some grieving mothers, is a special province of right-wing Republicans.
The context of these particular outrages against the protests of Children and Mothers is provided by this Bar Graph of School Shootings in the U.S.
One aspect of this situation becomes very clear when looking at the bar graph above. The number of school shooting incidents, was already way too high, with anywhere from 1 to 9 per year, from 1999 to 2014. But since 2015 the number shot up and now we have had 5 years with over 100 school shootings per year, and with a peak of 249 incidents in 2021. This shows a basic evil, residing in the right-wing of the Republican Party, seeing as they continue to make it easier and easier to obtain and carry guns. In 2022 when the U.S. had over 49,000 gun deaths, Japan had ONE!! And that was a professional assassin who shot a former Prime Minister with a HOMEMADE shotgun. People in Japan hit each other with clubs, poison each other, stab each other, push people out of windows. Though I will point out that Japan does have a much lower violent crime rate than the U.S. does, it still has some people who harm each other. They just don’t have easy access to military grade weapons. TheJapanese, in fact, do not have school mass shooting events. In number of School Shootings the U.S. is unique having had 377 such outrages since 2000. The other countries with the highest number of school shootings are Mexico with 8 and South Africa with 6. China, with over 4 times the population of the U.S., has had 5.
1). “Tennessee Republicans Are Trying to Expel Three House Democrats for Siding With Kids on Gun Control: The Democrats have already been stripped of their committee assignments”, April 3, 2023, Prem Thakker, The New Republic, at <https://newrepublic.com/post/171582/tennessee-republicans-expel-democrats-gun-control>.
(Caption: Republican Representative William Lamberth speaks with students inside
Cordell Hall in Nashville after students walked out of schools to gather at the Tennessee
State Capitol in protest to demand action for gun reform laws in the state on April 3.)
Tennessee Republicans are pushing to expel State Representatives Justin Jones, Justin Pearson, and Gloria Johnson for the bold act of standing in solidarity with thousands of children asking for more gun control after a mass shooting at a school in Nashville last week.
Earlier Monday, the Democratic trio were stripped from their committee assignments, and their membership IDs were shut off. On Monday evening, Republicans officially filed resolutions to expel the three. The vote is set to come Thursday. Given the balance of power, if every Republican goes along with the farce, the representatives will likely be removed, resulting in the first partisan expulsion of lawmakers in Tennessee history.
On Monday, thousands of Nashville students staged a walkout to demand stronger gun control laws in the aftermath of a shooting at Covenant School that left three children and three adults dead. The students marched to the state Capitol building, leading chants and singing songs, with one student simply saying, “We all just want to live through high school.”
The huge walkouts followed similar mass action by thousands of people rallying at the Tennessee State Capitol last Thursday for stronger gun control laws.
Throughout the protests, students and parents were supported by Tennessee lawmakers who actually cared about their constituents. Tennessee Republicans are voting to punish them, on the basis that the trio walked up to the well of the House during the Thursday protest, which violated “rules of decorum.”
The lawmakers say they decided to do so after being repeatedly silenced by House Speaker Cameron Sexton.
“Our mics were cut off throughout the week whenever we tried to bring up the issue of gun violence,” Jones told local outlet WKRN. “When I went outside to support those protesting the Speak cut off my voting machine—the first time I’ve ever seen that happen. The Speaker refused to let us talk during welcoming and honoring to welcome our constituents—the thousands gathered outside the Capitol building.”
(This is an image of a Twitter Post with a Link to a video of activities in the Tennessee State Legislature. To see the actual video go to <https://newrepublic.com/post/171582/tennessee-republicans-expel-democrats-gun-control>)
Sexton has called the trio’s walk up to the well an “insurrection”—an inane comparison, both when considering the motivations of the gun control protests versus the January 6 attacks, and moreover given that no one in Nashville tried harming public property or people’s lives as rioters did on January 6.
Jones accused Sexton of spending “more time on Twitter this weekend talking about a fake insurrection than he did about the deaths of six people including 9-year-old children.”
With this vote, local Republicans are responding in mere hours to lawmakers standing alongside kids begging to not be shot. On actual gun control, things look very different. In 2021, Governor Bill Lee signed a bill allowing people to openly carry handguns without permits (and since then, state Republicans have been looking to expand the ability to people as young as 18, and for any firearm, not just handguns). And in 2020, Republicans shut down a red flag law that in fact could have stopped the Covenant School shooter.
Meanwhile, there have been 377 school shootings nationwide since 1999 (the year of the Columbine High School massacre). Republicans have done nothing in those 24 years.
“This is not what democracy looks like. We are elected to serve our constituents,” said Representative Jones. “I’m the youngest Democratic lawmaker here—the most diverse district—and by shutting me down, they’re shutting down the voice of my constituents.”
Perhaps Republicans are punishing the lawmakers who stood with the children out of disdain for gun control as policy, or in annoyance at the pesky kids asking to not be killed in school. Or perhaps they are doing it to stamp out any expectation of lawmakers actually doing their job and caring about people.
This post has been updated.
Thousands of students in Nashville staged a walkout Monday to demand stronger gun control laws, a week after a shooter killed six people at a grade school.
A shooter opened fire at the Covenant School last week, killing three children and three adults and wounding several others. State Republicans have insisted that there is nothing they could have done or could do differently to prevent such a tragedy.
Thousands of students marched to the state Capitol building, chanting for more gun regulations. Local reporter Chris O’Brien estimated there were 2,500 to 3,000 people there. Gun control organization March for Our Lives put the number at more than twice as many.
They rallied outside the building, where they sang songs and called on lawmakers to protect them. “We all just want to live through high school,” one student said.
The students passed out a flyer with their list of demands, which include a red flag law, safe storage laws, and a ban on permitless carrying.
The protest comes just days after thousands of people, including students, rallied at the state Capitol building to protest Tennessee gun regulations.
Protesters marched inside the Capitol ahead of the House and Senate regular floor sessions on Thursday, calling for gun control and for lawmakers to “protect our kids!”
Governor Bill Lee and his fellow Republicans have carefully evaded the fact that they helped create the circumstances that allowed the shooting to occur. The GOP holds a supermajority in the Tennessee legislature, as well as the governor’s office.
Two years ago, lawmakers failed to pass a red flag law that would have prevented the shooter from legally acquiring seven guns, three of which were used in the attack. In the past few years, Republicans also loosened gun restrictions, focusing instead on attacking LGBTQ rights.
This post has been updated.
2). “Tennessee Republicans Are Literally Trying to Purge Democrats from the Legislature”, Gun Control, April 4, 2023, Eric Lutz, Vanity Fair, at <https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/04/tennessee-republicans-purging-democrats-from-legislature-gun-control-protest>
In a stunningly antidemocratic move, state Republicans moved to expel three Democratic colleagues for leading an anti-gun protest. “We had a child molester on the floor for years. They helped him get reelected and did nothing to expel him,” one of the Democrats tells the Tennessean. “But talk on the floor without permission, and you’ll get expelled.”
(Caption: Protesters demand gun control at the Tennessee State Capitol on April 3. Seth Herald/Getty Images)
Democracy is under assault in Tennessee. In a stunning move Monday evening, Republican state lawmakers in Nashville—the site of America’s latest horrific school shooting—moved to expel three Democratic colleagues who led an anti-gun protest on the state House floor last week, claiming that they participated in an “insurrection” when they led chants of “gun reform now” in the chamber. The resolutions, which followed scenes of chaos in the chamber, constitute a virtually “unprecedented” attack on the constitutional right to free speech, as one of the “Tennessee Three,” Gloria Johnson, told the Tennessean. But with a 75-24 supermajority in Tennessee's lower chamber, Republicans in a vote Thursday are all but certain to remove the members: Johnson, Justin Pearson, and Justin Jones, who said he has already been stripped of committee assignments and had his member ID shut off.
“This is a sad day for democracy,” wrote Jones, who said he was physically attacked on the House floor by Republican State Representative Justin Lafferty as Republican Speaker Cameron Sexton ordered the removal of protesters from the chamber Monday.
(This is an image of a Twitter Post with a Link to a video of activities in the Tennessee State Legislature. To see the actual video go to <https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/04/tennessee-republicans-purging-democrats-from-legislature-gun-control-protestl>)
The madness Monday marked the convergence of two currents in the GOP: Its growing embrace of authoritarianism, and its long-running refusal to do anything at all to address the gun violence that plagues this country and claimed the lives of three nine-year-old children and three adults at Nashville’s Covenant school last week. That tragedy brought more than a thousand demonstrators to Tennessee’s capital Thursday, demanding that elected officials take action on gun safety. Three of those elected officials — Johnson, Jones, and Pearson — interrupted legislative business inside the chamber that day, leading protesters in the gallery with a call for gun control. There were no arrests, no injuries, and the demonstration was peaceful. But Sexton, the far-right Speaker, claimed the protest was “at least equivalent, maybe worse” than the January 6 insurrection in 2021, in which armed Donald Trump supporters stormed the United States Capitol to prevent the certification of Joe Biden’s election victory. Sexton somewhat walked back those comments on Twitter later, but nevertheless described the Democratic lawmakers actions — which broke procedural rules but no laws — as “unacceptable” violations of “decorum.”
As Johnson pointed out, though, those standards of “decorum” seem not to apply to Republicans, including former State Representative David Byrd — who was not expelled, despite accusations of sexual assault against underage girls — and current State Representative Glen Casada — who is under federal indictment for fraud. Among Casada’s other outrageous conduct as the former Tennessee House Speaker: using taxpayer money to cast doubt on Byrd’s accusers, participating in racist and sexist text conversations with his now-former chief of staff, and apparently attempting to frame Jones — a student activist at the time who had been temporarily barred from the Capitol after allegedly throwing a cup at him during a protest — for violating a judge’s no contact order. (Byrd has previously denied the allegations of “inappropriate” conduct. Casada claimed to “know nothing” of the apparent attempt to smear Jones, distanced himself from the effort to discredit the Byrd accusers, and said he was “sorry” to have engaged in “locker room talk” with his chief of staff, Cade Cothren, who resigned amid the scandal; he and Cothren pleaded not guilty to the corruption charges brought by the DOJ last year.)
“We had a child molester on the floor for years. They helped him get reelected and did nothing to expel him,” Johnson told the Tennessean, referring to Byrd. “We’ve had members pee in each other’s chairs. We’ve had members illegally prescribe drugs to their cousin-mistress, and nothing happened,” Johnson continued, referring to other scandals involving her GOP colleagues. “But talk on the floor without permission, and you’ll get expelled.”
But this is obviously not about “decorum.” It’s about a tyrannical Republican majority exercising power, simply because it can. That hasn’t quashed the gun control protests: Demonstrations, including school walkouts, have continued in Tennessee. “We will not be silent,” Johnson wrote Monday. (GOP lawmakers have responded to pleas for assault weapon restrictions and other reforms in typical fashion: “If there is a firearm out there that you’re comfortable being shot with, please show me which one it is,” Republican State Representative William Lamberth asked a group of student protesters Monday.) But the anticipated ouster of democratically-elected lawmakers for exercising their Constitutional right to protest has chilling implications for democracy, both in Tennessee and beyond.
“The House speaker should be leading a real, bipartisan discussion to generate reforms that could stop the next school shooting,” Democratic State Representative Sam McKenzie, chair of the Tennessee Black Caucus, said in a statement Monday, calling the move “morally bankrupt” and noting that a significant portion of the three Democrats’ constituencies are Black. “Instead he’s using his power to silence people who are calling for solutions that he opposes.”
3). “Chants of ‘fascists’ as Tennessee House Republicans try to expel Democrats for protest over shooting: Three legislators are facing expulsion from the GOP-dominated chamber”, April 5, 2023, Abe Asher, The Independent, at <https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/tennessee-house-republicans-expel-democrats-b2314191.html>
(Caption: This video link connects with a variety of activities that took place around the Tennessee State Capitol. It features video of Tennessee State Police, with automatic weapons, “clearing” the statehouse. That would seem to be a major overreaction to a protest by Nashville School Children, and Grieving Mothers whose children had been slaughtered by gun violence)
Three Democrats are facing expulsion from the Tennessee House of Representatives after supporting a protest for stricter gun control measures following a mass shooting at a Nashville school.
Reps Justin Jones, Gloria Johnson, and Justin Pearson are all facing battles to hold onto their positions in the legislature after Republican colleagues filed resolutions to remove them for their participation in a heated protest at the state capitol in Nashville last Thursday following a mass shooting that left six people, including three children aged nine, dead at a Christian school in the city.
During that protest, thousands of people packed the capitol grounds to call for stricter gun control measures in the wake of the shooting. As part of the protest, demonstrators filed into the House chamber where Mr Jones and his colleagues led them in chants from the floor.
The Republicans, who have a supermajority in the chamber, have not expressed any willingness to revisist the state’s lax gun laws. They have, however, set their sights on expelling the three legislators who, according to a resolution filed Monday, “did knowingly and intentionally bring disorder and dishonor to the House of Representatives.”
The Republicans who filed the resolutions calling for the expolsions, Reps Bud Hulsey, Gino Bulso, and Andrew Farmer, successfully lobbied to have the voting process expidited so that the full Tennessee House is now slated to vote on the expolsions on Thursday. The three members have already been removed from their committee assignments.
As some observers pointed out, the rush to expel the three members stands in stark contrast to the Republicans’ unwillingness to take up a vote on expelling a Republican member of the House accused of sexually assaulting multiple teenage girls.
Whether the Democratic representatives calling for gun control measures in the wake of a mass shooting brough “disorder and dishonor” on the House of Representatives is a matter of political opinion.
(This is an image of a Twitter Post with a Link to a video of activities in the Tennessee State Legislature. To see the actual video go to <https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/tennessee-house-republicans-expel-democrats-b2314191.html>)
When the House moved to schedule the expolsion (SIC) vote, furious onlookers in the House gallery chanted “Fascists!” at the Republican legislators, after which Rep Cameron Sexton, the House speaker, called on state troopers to clear the gallery.
Two of the legislators facing explosion are Black. All three represent cities in a heavily gerrymandered state, with Ms Johnson representing Knoxville, Mr Jones representing heavily-Democratic Nashville, and Mr Jackson representing heavily-Democratic Memphis. Mr Jones is a student at Vanderbilt Divinity School, while Mr Pearson is an environmental organiser. Ms Johnson is a retired special education teacher.
(This is an image of a Twitter Post with a Link to a video of activities in the Tennessee State Legislature. To see the actual video go to <https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/tennessee-house-republicans-expel-democrats-b2314191.html>)
Democrats are opposed to the expulsions of three of their lawmakers, but have little power to stop the Republicans should they choose to move ahead. Despite the fact that Donald Trump only won 61 per cent of the vote in Tennessee in the 2020 presidential election, Republicans control some 76 per cent of House seats.
4). “Double standard? Tennessee GOP seeks to oust 3 Democrats”, April 4, 2023, KIMBERLEE KRUESI and JONATHAN MATTISE, Associated Press (AP), at <https://apnews.com/article/tennessee-lawmakers-expulsion-gun-control-98fbc28d28aeb3956e1f0ea91cd33e3f>.
{Caption: Rep. Justin Pearson, Rep. Justin Jones, Rep. Gloria Johnson People hold their hands up as they exit the House Chamber doors at Tennessee State Capitol Building in Nashville, Tenn., Monday, April 3, 2023. Tennessee Republican lawmakers have taken the first steps to expel three Democratic members from the GOP-dominant House for their role in a recent gun control protest at the state Capitol. (Nicole Hester /The Tennessean via AP) }
(Note: This is the first in a series of 7 Photos in this article. The Other 6 are available by scrolling using the arrow located at about the middle of the photo on the right. This is just a graphical image of the first photo. To look at all 7 photos go to <https://apnews.com/article/tennessee-lawmakers-expulsion-gun-control-98fbc28d28aeb3956e1f0ea91cd33e3f>)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A growing chorus is pushing back against Tennessee Republicans seeking to oust three House Democrats for using a bullhorn to shout support for pro-gun control protesters in the House chamber, while the GOP has previously resisted removing its own members even when weighing criminal allegations.
Most recently, the Republican-controlled Statehouse declined to take action against a member accused of sexual misconduct, as well as those who have faced indictments or came under pressure for liking nearly nude social media posts.
Nevertheless, Democratic Reps. Gloria Johnson, Justin Jones and Justin Pearson face possible expulsion for taking to the front of the House and chanting back and forth with gun control supporters who packed the gallery days after The Covenant School shooting in Nashville that killed six people, including three children.
House Speaker Cameron Sexton, a Republican, quickly promised the lawmakers would face consequences, warning he would not allow them to set a new precedent for breaking decorum.
In the days since, conservative figures have demanded Johnson, Jones and Pearson be removed, with many drawing a false equivalent between last week’s protest and the Jan. 6, 2021 siege at the nation’s Capitol.
House Minority Leader Karen Camper described her Democratic colleagues’ actions as “good trouble,” a nod to late U.S. Rep. John Lewis’ guiding principal on civil disobedience.
“When I saw thousands of people — mostly children and teenagers — protesting and demanding action from us after the slaying of six innocent people, including three 9-year-old children, it was impossible to sit idly by and continue with business as usual,” Pearson wrote in a letter to House members on Monday.
House Democrats, who number just 23 vs. 75 Republicans, say the GOP is more eager to take action against colleagues than address gun access and other systemic issues that led to the fatal shooting in Nashville.
Three Republicans members filed resolutions to expel Johnson, Jones and Justin and successfully set the deciding vote for Thursday.
Pearson and Jones are both first-term lawmakers. Johnson has served in the House since 2019 after previously being elected to the chamber for a term in 2013. All three have been highly critical of GOP leadership.
As scrutiny over the expulsion effort increased, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Tuesday criticized Republican lawmakers’ focus on rebuking Democrats for protesting rather than addressing solutions to avoid another school shooting.
“What did the Republican legislators do? They’re trying to expel these three Democratic legislators who joined in the protest,” Jean-Pierre said, adding that GOP members are “shrugging in the face of yet another tragic school shooting while our kids continue to pay the price.”
Expulsions in the Tennessee General Assembly are extremely rare and considered an extraordinary action.
In 2019, lawmakers faced pressure to expel former Republican Rep. David Byrd after he faced accusations of sexual misconduct dating to when he was a high school basketball coach three decades ago.
At the time, Sexton said it was up to Byrd to decide whether he should continue in the Legislature.
“You have to balance the will of the voters and overturning the will of the voters,” Sexton told WPLN in 2019, noting that the allegations at issue dated from 30 years earlier.
Byrd decided not to run for re-election in 2022.
Johnson criticized the GOP for failing to expel Byrd while going after three members for merely speaking without permission.
Under Tennessee’s constitution, the House or Senate can punish lawmakers for disorderly behavior and expel them with a two-thirds vote.
Often, expulsions have centered on a criminal conviction. Tennessee’s state law and Constitution disqualify convicted felons from holding public office.
Last year, the state Senate expelled Democrat Katrina Robinson after she was convicted of using about $3,400 in federal grant money on wedding expenses instead of her nursing school.
Before that case, state lawmakers last ousted a House member in 2016 when the chamber voted 70-to-2 remove Republican Rep. Jeremy Durham after an attorney general’s investigation detailed allegations of improper sexual contact with at least 22 women during his four years in office.
If Johnson, Jones or Pearson are expelled, the county commissions in their districts would get to pick replacements to serve until a special election in several months. The three would remain eligible to run in those.
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