Republicans resort to ‘political lynching’ to silence demands for gun safety reforms
After mass shooting, Tennessee House moves to expel three members calling for gun control – Popular Info
Holding a hand-drawn sign calling to “protect kids, not guns” and speaking through a megaphone, State Representatives Justin Jones, Justin J. Pearson and Gloria Johnson led chants and called on their colleagues to pass stricter gun laws, forcing the legislative proceedings to a temporary halt. Now, in what would be an extraordinary act of retribution for the protest, Republicans are poised to vote on Thursday to oust the three Democrats from the General Assembly and carry out the first partisan expulsion in the state’s modern history. – NY Times
How many people died in the Covenant School shooting? Why were students protesting in Memphis? What really happened in the Tennessee House? Who is Cameron Sextong? What is a ‘political lynching’?
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‘Political lynching’ to silence demands for gun safety reforms
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Peaceful protest
“Last Thursday, more than 1,000 protesters did come to Tennessee’s state Capitol. The protesters were there to object to the legislature’s inaction following the mass shooting at Covenant School in Nashville, which left six people dead. But it was not an insurrection and no one stormed the Capitol. There were no arrests, no violence, no injuries, and no property damage. It was a peaceful protest, largely by high school students, and the participants complied with the law. “We all just want to live through high school,” one student protester said.
There comes a time when you have to do something out of the ordinary. We occupied the House floor today after repeatedly being silenced from talking about the crisis of mass shootings. We could not go about business as usual as thousands were protesting outside demanding action. – Rep Justin Jones (D-TN)
Conflating peaceful protest with violent Jan 6th insurrection
Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R) described the incident as “at least the equivalent, maybe worse” than the violent attack on January 6 on the U.S. Capitol. Sexton called the protest “an insurrection” and said the goal of the Democratic legislators was “to incite people… to be disorderly and disruptive.” Based on this lie, Sexton and other Republican members of the Tennessee legislature have voted to begin the process of expelling the Democrats who supported the gun control protests from the legislature. –
Nevertheless, Sexton described the incident as “at least the equivalent, maybe worse” than the violent attack on January 6 on the U.S. Capitol. Sexton called the protest “an insurrection” and said the goal of the Democratic legislators was “to incite people… to be disorderly and disruptive.” – Popular Info
Responsibility for turning up the heat
NewsChannel 5: “Do you bear any responsibility for turning up the heat?”
Sexton: How did I turn up the heat?”
NewsChannel 5: We noted that he tweeted out video of the protest on the House floor, tagging FoxNews, Tucker Carlson, Donald Trump and others.
NewsChannel 5: “There’s no doubt they were disruptive. But what’s the evidence they were trying to incite violence?”
Sexton: “Well they were trying to jazz people up.”
NewsChannel 5: “Do you have any evidence that these three members were encouraging protesters to spit on members or troopers?”
Sexton: “I mean you can’t prove that.” – News Channel 5
TakeAway: Organize, register and vote for gun safety reforms.
Deepak
DemLabs
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Reposted from Democracy Labs with permission.
