President Joe Biden called the Tennessee Republican’s move to “punish” and “silence” Democratic lawmakers Thursday after the state’s GOP-led House expelled two Democrats who participated in protests over gun control.
Tennessee state representatives Gloria Johnson, Justin Jones and Justin Pearson led chants on the House floor March 30 as protesters gathered at the state Capitol in Nashville to demand gun control legislation. The demonstration follows the deaths of three children and three adults in last month’s mass shooting at a Nashville school. Johnson, Jones and Pearson were then admonished in the House for inadmissibility.
The Republican state began the process of expulsion there through action, violating the rules of the room, before expelling Jones and Pearson – who are both Black – but not Johnson – who is white.
“Today’s expulsion of lawmakers who participated in peaceful protests is shocking, undemocratic, and without precedent,” Biden said in a statement.
“Instead of debating the merits of these issues, these Republican lawmakers chose to condemn, silence, and oust Tennessee’s rightfully elected representatives.”
The president added that the majority of Americans “want lawmakers to act on common sense gun safety reform,” reflecting the growing unease among Americans who are increasingly dissatisfied with inadequate gun laws, according to a recently released Gallup poll.
“However, we continue to see Republican officials across America cut dangerous bills that make schools, places of worship, and communities less safe. Our children continue to pay the price,” Biden said.
The president’s remarks came as he continued his call for a federal assault weapons ban.
Biden helped ban assault weapons in 1994 as a senator, but the law expired in 2004 and has not been renewed by Congress.
More than 11,100 people have died from gun violence and there have been 141 mass shootings (events where at least four people are shot or killed) in the US this year, as of Friday, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive.
The president also pushed for an assault weapons ban earlier this year following two mass shootings that left 18 dead and 10 injured in California.