President Joe Biden called out Tennessee Republicans’ move to “punish” and “silence” Democratic lawmakers Thursday after the state’s GOP-led House expelled two Democrats who had participated in a protest on gun control.
Tennessee state Reps. Gloria Johnson, Justin Jones, and Justin Pearson led chants on the House floor on March 30 as protesters gathered at the state Capitol in Nashville to call for gun control legislation. The demonstration followed the deaths of three children and three adults in a mass shooting last month at a Nashville school. Johnson, Jones, and Pearson were then admonished in the House for failing to be recognized to speak.
State Republicans initiated the expulsion process on Monday for the conduct, which violated chamber rules, before expelling Jones and Pearson, who are both black but not Johnson.
“Today’s expulsion of lawmakers who engaged in peaceful protest is shocking, undemocratic, and without precedent,” Biden said in his statement.
“Rather than addressing the merits of the matter, these Republican legislators have opted to penalize, silence, and expel duly-elected representatives of Tennessee’s people.”
According to a recently released Gallup poll, the president added that most Americans “want lawmakers to act on commonsense gun safety reforms,” reflecting a growing unease among Americans increasingly dissatisfied with inadequate gun laws.
“But instead, we’ve continued to see Republican officials across America double down on dangerous bills that make our schools, places of worship, and communities less safe. Our kids continue to pay the price,” Biden said on Twitter.
Three kids and three officials gunned down in yet another mass shooting.
And what are GOP officials focused on?
Punishing lawmakers who joined thousands of peaceful protesters calling for action.
It's shocking, undemocratic, and without precedent. https://t.co/NB9gSdFI9h
— President Biden (@POTUS) April 6, 2023
The president’s comments are being made while he keeps pushing for a federal assault weapon ban.
As a senator in 1994, Biden participated in the passage of an assault weapons ban, but Congress has yet to extend it.
According to data from Gun Violence Archive, as of Friday, over 11,100 individuals have died from gun violence, and there have been 141 mass shootings (an incident when at least four persons were shot or killed).
In the wake of two mass shootings in California earlier this year that left 18 people dead and 10 injured, the president also advocated for a ban on assault rifles.
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