Tennessee
Expelled from parliament because he demonstrated for better gun control
An elected Democrat, who had demonstrated for more supervision of firearms following a massacre in a school, was excluded Thursday from the House of Tennessee, with a Republican majority.
Published
Justin Jones following his expulsion vote, April 6, 2023 in Nashville.
Getty Images via AFP
Elected officials voted 72 votes for, and 25 once morest, the exclusion of Justin Jones, who joined hundreds of protesters on March 30 demanding stricter gun regulations a few days following a shooting at a Christian school in Nashville , the capital of this southern state, in which six people lost their lives, including three children.
The protesters had entered the Capitol of Tennessee to challenge the local elected officials gathered in session. “What do we want? Gun regulations! When do we want it? NOW!” they had chanted in the corridors. Justin Jones had used a megaphone to invite protesters to shout slogans like “Power to the people”, according to several American media.
“An elected official who has expressed his opposition can be excluded, this is unheard of in Tennessee. This has never happened in our history, ”reacted the elected official on American television. “What the country sees is that we don’t have democracy in Tennessee,” he continued. “I will continue to hold them responsible for their actions (…) This is not just regarding me, but also trying to silence and exclude the movement that we are trying to carry.”
“Undemocratic”
Another elected Democrat, Gloria Johnson, also threatened with exclusion for the same reasons, managed to keep her seat, while the parliamentarians were to decide in the evening on the sidelining of a third elected Democrat, Justin Pearson, also accused of having participated in the demonstration.
“Three children and three officials killed in yet another mass shooting. And what are the elected representatives of the Republican Party focusing on? Punish elected officials who joined thousands of peaceful protesters calling for action,” blasted US President Joe Biden on Twitter. “It is shocking, anti-democratic and unprecedented,” he added.
On March 28, Audrey Hale, 28, broke into a Christian primary school, the “Covenant School”, with two assault rifles and a pistol, causing death before the police shot her dead. The tragedy, whose motive remains unknown, has aroused great excitement and revived the debate on the circulation of firearms in the United States, where they represent the first cause of death for minors.
(AFP)
