NASHVILLE -- Tennessee Black legislators are condemning House Republicans' expulsion Thursday of two fellow Black lawmakers.
The two House members were expelled after holding an impromptu House floor protest, complete with bullhorns, over GOP lawmakers' refusal to move Democrats' gun legislation after last month's mass shooting at a Nashville private elementary school. They denounced the ouster vote as the actions of a kangaroo court.
"These two men, I have every confidence that their counties and metropolitan areas are going to send them back, they're going to bring them back here," Black Caucus Chairman Sam McKenzie, R-Knoxville, said Friday of Justin Jones of Nashville and Justin Pearson of Memphis. "And my charge to this establishment is to seat them, immediately. The people voted for them, and they need to take their rightful positions back."
Sen. Raumesh Akbari, a Black Caucus member, attorney and former House member, told reporters that two extremely intelligent, community-centered Black men were removed.
"That's not something people are taking lightly for five seconds of disruption before the speaker called for a recess," she added.
BACKGROUND
Six people, three 9-year-olds and three staffers, were killed March 27 at The Covenant School in Nashville. Police say a 28-year-old, heavily armed former student entered the elementary school by shooting out the front entryway doors and later was shot dead by responding police.
The incident sparked protests calling for gun control.
Jones and Pearson, both freshmen lawmakers but longtime social activists, and fellow Rep. Gloria Johnson, a white Knoxville Democrat, marched up to the House well March 30.
Jones and Pearson used a bullhorn to address large numbers of children, teenagers, parents and other adults packing the galleries to rally for stronger gun control laws following the shooting. They said they did so, in part, because they had repeatedly been gaveled down -- or had their microphones turned off -- for out-of-order efforts to discuss gun control during debate on the House floor.
House Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, initiated the ouster effort after speaking to a talk radio host. In that interview, the speaker likened the floor action to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
"Two of the members, Rep. Jones and Rep. Johnson, have been very vocal about Jan. 6 in Washington, D.C., about what that was, and what they did today was equivalent, at least equivalent, maybe worse depending on how you look at it, of doing an insurrection in the Capitol," Sexton told the host.
Following Thursday night's ouster votes, the speaker offered this to reporters:
"What they did was try to hold up the people's business on the House floor instead of doing it the way that they should have done it, which they have the means to do," Sexton said. "They actually thought that they would be arrested, and so they decided that them being a victim was more important than focusing on the six victims from Monday. And that's appalling."
Democrats weighed in Friday.
"The fact is, we're still talking about those babies that were murdered, those three adults, they tried to save, those babies that were murdered, talking about common sense gun legislation," Rep. Antonio Parkinson, a Black Caucus member and Democrat from Memphis, told reporters at a caucus event Friday. "But what was shocking is how the hardening of the hearts of the leadership in the majority, even now, because we negotiated or tried to negotiate this situation, to talk them off the cliff all the way up until the gavel was wielded for the first hearing."
But he said most Republicans' "hearts were hardened. And then what you saw, what I saw, rather, was almost a predatory old instinct that kicked in and a pack mentality of followers, individuals that could not express a mind of their own to make a decision."
In defending his actions, Jones told the House chamber "what we see today is a lynch mob assembly, not just to lynch me, but democracy. It will not stand."
Metro Nashville Council members are already talking of reappointing him to the seat he lost.
LOCAL LAWMAKERS
Hamilton County's four Republican House members, all of whom voted to expel all three Democrats, saw events through a different lens.
Rep. Esther Helton-Haynes, R-East Ridge, had told the Chattanooga Times Free Press earlier she would vote for expulsion, while Reps. Greg Vital, R-Harrison, and Greg Martin, R-Hixson, had indicated they were leaning that way.
In a joint statement Friday, Hamilton County Republican Reps. Patsy Hazlewood of Signal Mountain, Martin, Helton-Haynes and Vital explained why they voted to expel the three lawmakers.
"On Thursday of last week, the voices of 7 million Tennesseans represented by all legislators were hijacked by three individuals for the sole purpose of inciting chaos," the statement reads. "Worst of all, their actions moved the focus from where it should be -- and that is on the innocents who were murdered at Covenant and what we can do to make our children and all Tennesseans safer. We intend to continue to work with all our colleagues to do that, as well as to complete the business left before us for this session. That work cannot be done if the rules of deliberative process are not followed.
"Just like any other organization," the four Republicans' statement continued, "if rules are disregarded, chaos will soon be the norm. We followed the rules of the Tennessee Constitution for dealing with disorderly and disruptive behavior. The democratic process worked."
Rep. Yusuf Hakeem, D-Chattanooga, was the lone member of the Chattanooga delegation to vote no, speaking against ouster Thursday.
LEE EFFORTS
In a text to the Times Free Press on Friday, Gov. Bill Lee's press secretary, Jade Byers, pointed to the "overwhelming bipartisan passage" of the Republican governor's enhanced school safety bill by the House earlier in the week. Proposed prior to the latest mass shooting in Tennessee, House Bill 322 would require public schools to lock exterior doors while students are present, subject to penalties for repeat violations.
Other provisions require schools to conduct annual incident command and bus safety drills, in addition to already-required armed intruder drills. All new-built school facilities must have classroom door locks and "secure" visitor entry vestibules. School districts would have to share safety and floor plans as well as security systems access with state and local law enforcement.
School districts would be required to have a threat assessment team, which currently is not mandated. And it requires annual active shooter training for private security guards. Private schools would be required to develop plans for emergency response and crisis management as well as conduct annual armed intruder, incident command and bus safety drills. Private school security guards would have to complete the same training that public schools complete.
Lee has also proposed an amendment to his proposed fiscal year 2023-24 budget to provide $140 million for public school resource officers, with the intent to have at least one in every school.
"In the coming weeks, the governor looks forward to working with the General Assembly on thoughtful, practical solutions to ensure individuals who are a danger to themselves or others don't have access to weapons," Byers said.
Democrats are focused on toughening up safe-storage of firearms in vehicles as well as implementing a "red flag" extreme-risk provisions to prevent people with mental health issues from having firearms.
Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, the Republican Senate speaker from Oak Ridge, has previously said he could be open to that and told reporters Thursday it remains a possibility.
"I think the legislature is open to looking at some things to make people who have, like, serious mental problems, not able to purchase and possess firearms," McNally told reporters in his office Thursday as the roar of protesters outside the House chamber could be heard.
But McNally didn't appear to be supportive of a measure backed by Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly and several big city and county mayors toughening up requirements for gun storage in vehicles or boats to stem thefts.
"It depends on what they come up with, but I think part of the issue is, you need to possibly increase penalties on individuals committing crimes," he said. "It's not necessarily the theft of the weapon, it's the person committing the theft."
McNally said he believes encouraging people to secure their weapons is a good idea, but he doesn't think proposing penalties for people to help make that happen is a good idea.
This year's bill carries a misdemeanor penalty, only requiring the offending vehicle or boat owner to take a gun safety course.
"We'd look at it," McNally said.
Lee, whose wife is a former teacher and knew both The Covenant School teacher and the head of school who were killed, also recently stated a willingness to look at preventing people with mental issues from having firearms.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Todd Gardenhire, R-Chattanooga, last week moved all remaining gun bills to 2024. But that situation could change if McNally decides to back restrictions on people with mental health issues having access to firearms.
Contact Andy Sher at asher@timesfreepress.com or 615-285-9480.