OAN Geraldyn Berry
UPDATED 6:04 PM – Thursday, April 6, 2023
A week after three Democrats organized a gun control demonstration on the House floor, a vote took place to remove the representatives from Tennessee’s Republican-controlled House of Representatives.
Rep. Justin Jones (D-Tenn.) was previously booted from the House for participating in a demonstration after the school massacre in Nashville.
Justin Pearson, the third Democrat figure involved, could potentially be removed from office on Thursday.
Johnson received a 65-30 majority in the vote on rules infractions. A two-thirds majority is required for expulsion from the House. Jones received a 72–25 split vote from both parties.
As lawmakers prepared to consider three resolutions submitted by GOP lawmakers seeking to expel Jones of Nashville, Johnson of Knoxville, and Pearson of Memphis, a move the Tennessee House has only made twice since the 1860s, protesters descended upon the state Capitol on Thursday.
Prior to the Democrat’s expulsion, he gave a speech addressing his colleagues.
“There comes a time where people get sick and tired of being sick and tired,” Jones said in a speech prior to a vote on his expulsion. “And so, my colleagues, I say that what we did was act in our responsibility as legislators to serve and give voice to the grievances of people who have been silenced. We called for you all to ban assault weapons and you respond with an assault on democracy.”
After two hours of discussion, Jones cast his vote after responding to inquiries about his participation in the demonstration last Thursday. After roughly an hour and a half of deliberation, Johnson cast his vote.
House Democrat Caucus Press Secretary Cameron Sexton had stripped the trio of all their committee and subcommittee assignments and called their actions “disorderly behavior.”
Last week, the trio of Democratic lawmakers chanted back and forth from the chamber floor with gun-control supporters packed in the gallery. Jones had disrupted House proceeding with a blowhorn. This was in regards to them protesting whilst calling for gun control following the shooting at a private Christian school in Nashville that killed six people, including three children.
This a developing story.
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By: OAN
