Two Democrats Reps. Kicked Out of House

After days of loud protests by Tennesseans begging their legislature for tighter gun laws following a mass shooting at a Nashville school, state lawmakers acted decisively Thursday on a gun-related matter. But their votes did not require universal background checks to buy a firearm, or ban so-called “bump stock” devices used for rapid-fire shooting, or reinstate a permit requirement for Tennesseans to carry an open or concealed handgun.

Rather, the Republican-controlled House expelled two members — both Democrats — for the way they protested the body’s failure to pursue significant gun reforms after the tragedy that left seven people at The Covenant School dead, including three children, three adult staff members, and the shooter.

With a required two-thirds vote, the House kicked out Rep. Justin Jones of Nashville and Rep. Justin Pearson of Memphis, the chamber’s two youngest Black members. An expulsion resolution against a third Democrat, Rep. Gloria Johnson of Knoxville, a retired teacher who is white, failed by a single vote.

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Hailed by supporters as “The Tennessee Three,” the trio angered Republicans after they went to the front of the House floor and led chants with gun control supporters who had filled the chamber’s gallery on March 30, four days after the shooting.

Jones and Pearson alternately used a bullhorn to shout “Gun control now!” and “Power to the people!” All three legislators later acknowledged that, in violation of House rules, they were not formally recognized by House Speaker Cameron Sexton to speak at the podium and occupy the area for nearly an hour.

“What they did was try to hold up the people’s business on the House floor,” said Sexton, who led the charge to expel the trio for “disorderly behavior” and “knowingly and intentionally bringing disorder and dishonor to the House of Representatives.”

The three Democrats, in making their case to fellow legislators during nearly six hours of expulsion proceedings, said their goal that day was to advocate for thousands of protesters, many of them students, who had come to the State Capitol that week to demand stricter gun laws.

“I was fighting for your children and your grandchildren,” said Jones, 27, in closing remarks to his colleagues in the House. The votes stripped Jones and Pearson of their status as lawmakers during the most important month of a pivotal legislative session, temporarily robbing some 140,000 Tennesseans in the state’s two largest cities of representation.

Even before the ouster of Jones and Pearson, Republicans outnumbered Democrats 75 to 23 in the House.