Tennessee Democratic lawmakers expelled over gun-control protest hope to reclaim seats

Two Tennessee Democrats who were expelled from the Republican-dominated state House of Representatives last week over their participation in a gun-control protest said on Sunday that they hoped to soon reclaim their seats.

Representatives Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, who joined hundreds of protesters at the state capitol in Nashville to demand stricter gun laws four days after a mass shooting at a local school, told NBC’s Meet the Press that they hoped to be reappointed by their districts to serve in their seats until they could run again in special elections.

Their expulsion has drawn national outcry from Democrats. Vice President Kamala Harris paid a visit to Nashville last Friday in support of Jones, who represents a Nashville district; Pearson, who represents a Memphis district; and their colleague Representative Gloria Johnson, who also joined the gun control protest but was spared expulsion last week by one member vote.

Under Tennessee law, the Metropolitan Council of Davidson County in Nashville and the Shelby County Board of Commissioners in Memphis can appoint interim representatives for their districts’ now-vacant seats until a special election is held.

On March 30, hundreds of demonstrators flooded into the Tennessee statehouse to demand that lawmakers pass stricter gun laws, after assailant Audrey Hale gunned down three nine-year-old students and three staff members at the Covenant School in Nashville on March 27. Videos posted to Twitter showed the two black lawmakers, Reps. Jones and Pearson, shouting through a bullhorn on the House floor, saying, “No action, no peace!”

Republicans accused them and Johnson of engaging in “disorderly behavior” and said in resolutions calling for their expulsion that they “did knowingly and intentionally bring disorder and dishonor to the House of Representatives through their individual and collective actions.” The Democrats said their participation in the protest was within their constitutional right to freedom of speech.

Votes to expel Jones and Pearson

On Thursday, the body voted along party lines to expel Jones and Pearson.

Rabbi Michael Danziger, senior rabbi at The Temple in Nashville, told The Jerusalem Post that the Jewish community was standing in solidarity with the victims of the Covenant School “by being there for each other and for our neighbors – people who experienced the loss directly – and for each other and our congregation and the Jewish community.”

He noted that after the shooting, the community had a chance “to gather and pray and process together.”

“A lot of it is loving our neighbor and mourning,” said Danziger. “There are a lot of people who have seen this too many times and have launched it right into action. And they are either politically reaching out to representatives and elected officials or otherwise just trying to get mobilized. Because if it happened again and it hit close to home this time, we don’t want any other community to have to deal with it.”

He said the community is now more alert. “The whole community, and we certainly see our parents and students and teachers have their concerns heightened,” he said. “We are always looking at our security and safety. So, we’ve been on top of this. But this certainly makes it feel urgent all over again to take all the measures we can.

“[The shooting took place] near where lots of our families live and where lots of our kids go to school,” he added.

Danziger went on to say he was optimistic about how many people have a desire to make sure that something gets done “and are really being active about it.”

“I’m not sure where I see the help coming from – at what level of government,” he said. “We’ve just seen too many of these things pass by without substantial change. So I certainly have my skepticism, but I’m heartened by the number of people who are doing something about it.”

Rabbi Hara Person, chief executive of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, said there was “a really big problem in this country with guns and gun safety.”

“From our perspective at the CCAR, we’re just horrified that the government, which could act, is not acting,” she said. “And in fact, what we’ve seen in recent times has been even in certain states, you know, even more loosening of gun safety rules. And it’s just really incomprehensible.

“There are things that the federal government could do to have increased things like background checks, stronger gun-control rules about who can get a gun, about how many guns you can get working with gun manufacturers. There are a lot of different levels,” Person said.

“I think there are many people in this country who are horrified at what’s going on. But I think there are too many people who are blaming it on individuals rather than on laws and policies,” she added.