Tennessee Punishes Dem Reps For Gun Reform Protest

April 3, 2023 Mass Shootings, Republicans

The Knoxville News reports:

The Republican leadership of Tennessee’s House of Representatives stripped state Rep. Gloria Johnson, D-Knoxville, of her committee assignments April 3 in retaliation for her peaceful participation in last week’s demonstration for gun reform that spilled over to the House floor March 30, Knox News has learned.

When asked whether her assignments had been rescinded, state Rep. Sam McKenzie, D-Knoxville, confirmed they had. He was in the office when the clerk delivered Johnson’s letter. “Yes, they have. That’s official and I’m hoping that’s all they do,” he texted.

After a Nashville news conference with Gov. Bill Lee and other lawmakers, House Speaker Cameron Sexton [photo], confirmed that Johnson and Rep. Justin Jones, D-Nashville, had been stripped of their committee assignments.

The Daily Beast reports:

During Thursday’s peaceful “Protect Our Kids” rally, staged in the aftermath of a Nashville school shooting that left six people dead, the trio took to the podium on the House floor, where Johnson stood alongside Pearson and Jones as they used a megaphone to lead protesters who had gathered in the chamber’s balcony in chants. Sexton later called the incident an “insurrection,” according to the Tennessee Lookout. His office clarified over the weekend that his remark had been directed at his colleagues and not the protesters.

Sexton appeared here last month when he moved to punish Nashville for deciding against hosting the 2024 Republican Convention. Also last month he proposed refusing $1.8 billion in federal education funds so that the state would be freed from anti-discrimination oversight and could further its Christian indoctrination goals in public schools. In 2021, he backed a bill making it legal to run over protesters.



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