It’s a move that has only happened three times since the Civil War, and led shockwaves across the nation, with many speaking out against the decision on social media.
“We called for you all to ban assault weapons and you respond with an assault on democracy,” Jones said earlier at the debate, according toThe Tennessean.
Expulsion from the House requires a two-thirds majority vote, which Pearson and Jones both received — at 69-26 for Pearson, 72-25 for Jones,CNNreported. Johnson’s vote was 65-30.
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The overall session lasted seven hours, according to the outlet. Boos and chants erupted following the vote to expel Rep. Pearson and Rep. Jones, while cheers were heard when the count turned up one vote short to kick Johnson out of office.
Republican lawmakers have pushed back at that claim, however. “Our members literally didn’t look at the ethnicity of the two members who were up for expulsion,” Tennessee State House Majority Leader William Lambert said, according toNBC News.
Meanwhile, Pearson and Jones warned after the vote about the dangerous precedent the move sets, noting to theTodayshow how it opens the door for extremists in other states to silence other ideologies.
PresidentJoe Bidenshared similar concerns, in astatement on Thursday. “Last week, three more students and three school officials were gunned down in yet another tragic mass shooting in Nashville. On Monday, 7,000 Tennesseans, many of them students, marched to their state capitol to call on their lawmakers to take action and keep them safe,” the statement began.“Instead, state Republican lawmakers called votes today to expel three Democratic legislators who stood in solidarity with students and families and helped lift their voices,” Biden continued. “Today’s expulsion of lawmakers who engaged in peaceful protest is shocking, undemocratic, and without precedent. Rather than debating the merits of the issue, these Republican lawmakers have chosen to punish, silence, and expel duly-elected representatives of the people of Tennessee.”
The president added: “A strong majority of Americans want lawmakers to act on commonsense gun safety reforms that we know will save lives. 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.““Congress must ban assault weapons and high capacity magazines, require safe storage of firearms, eliminate gun manufacturers' immunity from liability, and require background checks for all gun sales, and state officials must do the same,” the statement concluded.
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Protests have erupted across the country against gun violence in the wake of last week’s deadly school shooting, with students nationwide demanding action and holding walkouts across 47 states.
Six people including three 9-year-olds died at the Nashville private school shooting. The 28-year-old shooter, Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake said, lawfully purchased “seven firearms from five different local gun stores,” and used three of them in the killings.
source: people.com
