“I think that we need an emergency response because we’re facing a crisis situation … we need the help from our national leaders because we’re in a state where the only action that our colleagues took in response to the mass shooting in Nashville was to expel the two youngest Black lawmakers and then to pass a law to protect gun manufacturers,” Jones told CNN. In an interview with CNN on Sunday, the lawmakers – dubbed the “Tennessee Three” – told CNN’s Abby Phillip that they planned to ask Biden to declare a public health emergency on gun violence. In addition to talking with Biden about gun control, Jones told reporters that the lawmakers discussed how they want to “build out multiracial democracy and challenge these extreme voices.” “You all are doing just that,” the president added. Jones and Pearson were each sent back to the Tennessee House on an interim basis after local boards in their constituencies voted to reappoint them.īiden on Monday called the Republican legislature’s actions “shocking,” “undemocratic” and “without any precedent.” He said that “nothing is guaranteed by Democracy,” and that “every generation has to fight for it.” The expelled representatives called the expulsions undemocratic and racist. Jones and Pearson, who are Black, were forced out of the GOP-controlled legislature. In a resolution, state Republicans had accused the trio of “knowingly and intentionally” bringing “disorder and dishonor to the House of Representatives” without being recognized to speak, CNN affiliate WSMV reported earlier this month. Pearson said the meeting focused on “the need to have more gun violence prevention” at the federal and state levels. The lawmakers’ act of protest and rare expulsions from the body’s Republican supermajority came days after a mass shooting at a Nashville Christian school that left six people dead, including three 9-year-old students.įollowing the White House meeting, the lawmakers told reporters they discussed red flag laws, safe storage laws, an assault weapons ban and strengthening background checks during their time with the president. The three Democrats – Justin Jones, Justin Pearson and Gloria Johnson – were each subject to an ouster vote by Tennessee Republican lawmakers earlier this month over their protest on the state House floor to advocate for gun control, where they used a bullhorn to address those in the room. In the Oval Office, Biden told the Tennessee lawmakers, “If you stand up for kids, you’re standing up our communities and democratic values.” President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris met with three Democratic Tennessee lawmakers at the White House on Monday, after the trio faced expulsion votes over their act of protest advocating for gun control.
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