Three Democratic Lawmakers in Tennessee’s House of Representatives have been removed from Committee assignments and could be expelled from the state legislature because they participated in protests against gun violence at the Capitol.
On Monday (April 3), Nashville’s local NPR station reported that Democratic State Representatives Gloria Johnson (Knoxville), Justin Jones (Nashville), and Justin J. Pearson (Memphis) had been stripped of the Committee seats after a state legislature vote.
The trio could face expulsion as soon as next week for their involvement in the protests.
The Democratic Lawmakers faced the punishment after participating in gun reform demonstrations days after a shooter killed three elementary school students and three school officials at the Covenant School in Nashville.
Following the vote to remove them from Committee seats, Jones and Johnson shared images of the resolution to expel them from the Legislature.
Taking to social media, Jones tweeted an image of the resolution, explaining that he had been “handed this on the House floor,” explaining state lawmakers still needed to vote on the resolution.
He added that he wouldn’t be “intimidated” because “THE PEOPLE are demanding we act to stop kids from being murdered in school.”
In a tweet explaining the decision Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R) wrote that the trio’s actions were “unacceptable,” insisting that they had broken “several rules of decorum and procedure on the House floor” and adding that their behavior on the House floor was an “effort… to make themselves the victims.”
According to the local NPR station, Sexton had threatened the trio with disciplinary action before Monday’s vote.
