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Sponsor Rep. Ryan Williams, R-Cookeville, said his bill was aimed at protecting students and acting as a deterrent for potential school security threats. Williams also pointed to a previous 2016 law that allowed some school districts in “distressed” counties, an economic indicator established by the state, to opt into a teacher handgun carry program, noting this isn't totally unprecedented in Tennessee. Republicans in favor of the measure have argued trained staff can increase school security, particularly in rural areas where law enforcement may be more sparsely staffed with greater response times to far-flung communities.
Tennessee House Poised to Expel 3 Democrats Over Gun Control Protest
I've worked in a lot of schools where violence is a thing, even if a gun isn't involved. And that will happen more if they pass this," Shipman-Dorrance said. “I used to think they didn’t get it, but I honestly just think at this point, they're not hearing us no matter what. And that really, to me, calls into question ethically, morally, what are they doing and why." Early in the debate, Sexton gaveled down vocal protestors and warned he would clear the gallery if necessary.
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The move exasperated Democrats, who immediately pointed out that cutting off debate and silencing dissenters was what led the so-called Tennessee three to break House rules after being cut off from previous debates. Banishment is a move the chamber has used only a handful times since the Civil War. Most state legislatures have the power to expel members, but it is generally reserved as a punishment for lawmakers accused of serious misconduct, not used as a weapon against political opponents. Despite the absence of any criminal charges or investigation, Republicans argue that the expulsions are warranted because the protest flouted the rules of procedure and decorum, with the House speaker going so far as to invoke the violence of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S.
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In the wake of a school shooting in Nashville that left six people dead, three Democratic lawmakers took to the floor of the Republican-controlled Tennessee House chamber in late March to rally for stricter gun control. As protesters filled the galleries, the lawmakers approached the front of the House chamber with a bullhorn and participated in a chant. The scene unfolded days after the shooting at the Covenant School, a private Christian school. Their participation from the front of the chamber broke House rules because the three did not have permission from the House speaker.
State legislative elections
The passage of the bill comes a little more than a year since the Covenant School shooting in Nashville left six people dead, including three children. During the organizational session of the House, a speaker and a speaker pro tempore are elected. The speaker pro tempore acts in the absence of the speaker, but the speaker has the right to name any member to perform the duties of the chair for a period not to exceed one legislative day. "Specifically, the expulsion sanction was used because the representatives refused to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment (a condition necessary for Tennessee's readmission to the Union)," Russell said.
Now, in what would be an extraordinary act of retribution for the protest, Republicans are poised to vote on Thursday to oust the three Democrats from the General Assembly and carry out the first partisan expulsion in the state’s modern history. The Republican-dominated House was set to vote on Thursday on taking the rare and punitive action of removing the Democrats from office for their part in the protest. The expulsion vote took place one week after Reps. Johnson, Jones and Pearson used a megaphone to lead chants of demonstrators in the House gallery. The video was a compilation of footage from that day and afterward — and because it included video shot on the House floor, Democrats said whichever member had taken the footage had likely violated House rules.
Who is Justin Jones?
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The House of Representatives has voted only twice since the Civil War to expel a member, once in 1980 after a sitting lawmaker was convicted of soliciting a bribe and again in 2016 after the House majority whip faced allegations of sexual misconduct while in office. Representatives who are expelled can return to their office — by being appointed by the commission and/or by running again. The state constitution also says a lawmaker can't be expelled a second time for the same offense. Days earlier, a 28-year-old assailant shot and killed six people at an elementary school in Nashville, prompting crowds of students and parents to visit the legislature, urging new controls. Earlier in the proceedings, Rep. Johnny Garrett, the House majority whip, played a seven-minute video of events from that day, over objections of Democrats including Rep. Joe Towns, Jr., D-Memphis, who spoke out against what he called a "stacked deal" and an "ambush." Johnson also spoke about her experience as a teacher during a school shooting at a Knoxville high school in 2008.
How have people reacted to the expulsion?
As the chants echoed throughout the Capitol, Jones, Johnson and Pearson approached the front of the House chamber with a bullhorn. The move marked a rare defeat on a GOP-backed proposal initially introduced nearly one year ago. It easily cleared the Republican-controlled Senate last April, but lawmakers eventually hit pause as the House became consumed with controversy over expelling two Black Democratic lawmakers for their participating in a pro-gun control protest from the House floor.
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Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Karen Camper described their actions as “good trouble,” a reference to the late U.S. 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. “I’ll be out there with the people every week, demanding that you act,” he said. Jones vowed that even if expelled, he would continue pressing for action on guns. Offered a chance to defend himself before the vote, Jones said the GOP responded to the shooting with a different kind of attack. At an evening rally, Jones and Pearson pledged to be back at the Capitol next week advocating for change.
Justin Pearson, 28, was the second member of the group to be expelled from the House and another of its youngest members. He was elected in a January 2023 special election after the incumbent, Barbara Cooper, had died. He represented the state's 86th district, which has about 64,000 residents and is part of Shelby County, where Memphis is located. Here's what to know about the "Tennessee Three," the events that led up to Thursday's vote, and what happens next. 14 House Republicans voted against the latter Israel aid bill in February, with many citing the cost of the aid.
Jones, Pearson and Johnson joined in protesting last week as hundreds of demonstrators packed the Capitol to call for passage of gun-control measures. As the protesters filled galleries, the three approached the front of the House chamber with a bullhorn and participated in a chant. The scene unfolded days after the shooting at the Covenant School, a private Christian school where six people were killed, including three children.
An effort to expel a third Democrat, Representative Gloria Johnson, who had stood by the two men in the front of the chamber and joined in the chants during the protest, fell short by one vote. However, House Speaker Cameron Sexton, a Republican who voted to expel all three, denied that race was at play and said Johnson’s arguments might have swayed other members. “We called for you all to ban assault weapons, and you respond with an assault on democracy,” he said. In 2016, state Rep. Jeremy Durham was expelled after being found to have shown "disorderly behavior" — in that case, Durham was facing numerous allegations of sexual misconduct. "I was told that we were crowding around the clerk's desk," he said, referring to the language in the motion against him and his colleagues.
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