Tennessee GOP Goes Through With Absurd Purge of Anti-Gun House Dems

Tennessee’s Republican-held House of Representatives ousted the first of three Democratic lawmakers, Justin Jones of Nashville, on Thursday afternoon for leading chants for gun control at the podium of the state House last week—something the Republican House Speaker likened to an “insurrection.”

Last week, Democratic Reps. Gloria Johnson, Justin Jones, and Justin Pearson were accused of violating decorum rules for their use of a bullhorn and signs to call for gun control in the wake of the mass killing of children and staff at Nashville’s Covenant School by an assailant toting two AR-15s. The three Democrats had stood at the podium of the Tennessee House and led a small crowd of protesters in chants when they hadn’t been recognized to speak, according to The Tennessean.

Republicans, in turn, vowed to overridde the three members’ election and hold a vote to expel them. The ouster has shocked many Americans, who questioned a legislature that had, until Thursday, expelled just two members since the Civil War, and has failed to take action against other members accused of sexual harassment or violating campaign finance laws.

Read more at The Daily Beast.