Biden condemns Tennessee House vote to expel Dems over gun protests

President Joe Biden on Thursday condemned as “shocking” and “undemocratic” moves by Republicans in Tennessee to expel Democrats from the state Legislature for their roles in gun control protests.

Less than two weeks after three 9-year-old children and three adults were fatally shot at an elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee’s House of Representatives voted Thursday on the removal of the Democratic representatives who led a protest on the chamber floor following the mass shooting at The Covenant School on March 27.

Republicans ultimately expelled two Black freshman lawmakers, while declining to remove the third Democrat, who is white and participated in the same demonstration that led to Thursday's votes.

“Today’s expulsion of lawmakers who engaged in peaceful protest is shocking, undemocratic, and without precedent. Rather than debating the merits of the issue, these Republican lawmakers have chosen to punish, silence, and expel duly-elected representatives of the people of Tennessee,” Biden said in a statement Thursday night.

The Tennessee Legislature has captured national attention after three state lawmakers — Reps. Gloria Johnson of Knoxville, Justin Jones of Nashville and Justin Pearson of Memphis — used a bullhorn to amplify calls for gun policy reform as demonstrators at the state capitol called for lawmakers to take action last week. The lawmakers approached the lectern without being recognized, interrupting legislative business. House Speaker Cameron Sexton called the protests “an insurrection.”

“On Monday, 7,000 Tennesseans, many of them students, marched to their state capitol to call on their lawmakers to take action and keep them safe,” Biden said. “Instead, state Republican lawmakers called votes today to expel three Democratic legislators who stood in solidarity with students and families and helped lift their voices.”

The lawmakers were quickly stripped of their committee assignments, and GOP lawmakers filed three resolutions this week seeking the Democrats’ removal, in a rare and historic step that the state House has taken only twice since the 1860s. The vote to remove two of the lawmakers from office is an unprecedented use of power by Republicans who control both chambers of the Tennessee Legislature. The rare step typically occurs only when members are accused of crimes or ethics violations.

The White House has weighed in multiple times this week, criticizing the action for its partisan nature amid a national epidemic of gun violence. So far this year, the U.S. has seen 141 mass shootings and 65 children have been killed because of gun violence, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

The president on Thursday repeated his pleas for Congress to re-implement an assault weapons ban. He also called for legislators to eliminate gun manufacturers’ immunity from liability and to implement universal background checks.

“A strong majority of Americans want lawmakers to act on commonsense gun safety reforms that we know will save lives,” Biden said. “But instead, we’ve continued to see Republican officials across America double down on dangerous bills that make our schools, places of worship, and communities less safe. Our kids continue to pay the price.”