On Thursday, a large protestor group descended upon the Tennessee Capitol as the House prepares to vote on the removal of three Democratic legislators who disrupted proceedings last week.
Anti-gun protesters ran to the Capitol last Thursday in an attempt to demand stricter gun laws. The rowdy group tried to push through a line of Tennessee State Troopers at one point. Officers temporarily detained one of the protesters, but he was eventually released into the crowd.
The group assembled outside the building’s steps and then moved inside the corridors and legislative session chambers. After shouting at lawmakers during proceedings, protesters in the Senate chamber’s gallery had to be removed.
Justin Jones and Gloria Johnson, Democratic State Representatives, encouraged the crowd to keep protesting.
After pulling out a megaphone, the three lawmakers were accused of inciting protesters to chant and disrupt House proceedings.
Johnson, Jones, Pearson, and others are now facing expulsion by a Republican majority House.
The state Capitol was once again the scene of protesters ahead of Thursday’s vote. Protesters gathered again at the state Capitol to voice their support for lawmakers, shouting “Free, Free, Free, Tennessee Three.”
Cameron Sexton, Republican House Speaker, stated to Fox News Digital that the vote on whether to expel lawmakers did not have anything to do with anti-gun protests outside of the House chamber.
Sexton stated, “I want everybody to know that this has nothing to do with the protest outside of the House chamber or outside the Capitol.” “This is about the actions of these three members on the House floor, the way they shut us down, and how they led protests in the House chamber to those people in the balcony.”
Sexton stated that he will vote for the expulsion of Democratic legislators.
Jones criticized House Republicans on Tuesday for their vote to expel.
“It is morally absurd that, a week after six people were killed in a shooting rampage in our community, the House Republicans have no choice but to expel us from standing with our constituents and calling for gun control. Jones stated that the events in Tennessee pose a clear threat to democracy across the country.
Sexton retorted at Jones and stated that he and other Democratic legislators were being investigated for expulsion due to disruptions in House proceedings.
He’s trying to make it about the protesters. He wants to focus on the protests. They were not silenced. “This has nothing to do outside of the House chamber,” Sexton said.
He continued, “These three individuals stormed to the well from where you speak without being recognized, did no display decorum and disrupted proceedings where we had the procedure to shut down, pulled a megaphone out of their hands, and began to lead the balcony in protest over the next 30 to 45 minute,” he said. Their actions on the House Floor rise to the point of expulsion. These types of actions cannot be allowed to occur in the House of the People.
The House voted Monday to remove three Democratic legislators from their assigned committee assignments.
