 So three of us lawmakers who still with our constituents demanding that they take action and hear that thousands of people gathered on Thursday talking about the crisis of mass shootings. We've been kicked off our committees as representatives elected by our constituents. Each of us represents 78,000 people and our people are being silenced because they're kicking us off committees. They're threatening to take a vote to expel us today. Our member ID badges have been shut off. Our representative ID badges have been shut off. And this is not what democracy looks like. We are elected to serve our constituents and I'm the youngest Democratic lawmaker here in the most diverse district and by shutting me down they're shutting down the voice of my constituents. So this is one of my constituents from this world and so whose family was hit and you know a victim of the mass, the wall calls mass shooting and so we're here to speak for them and they wouldn't even let us speak for our people. They wouldn't let us talk on the floor. They shut our microphones off. They shut our voting machines off. We couldn't even talk about the issue and so when we went to the well to force the issue they called us insurrectionists and they're now trying to expel us from the legislature. You just heard from Tennessee State Representative Justin Jones who explained how he's one of three lawmakers being targeted by Republicans for expulsion after they stood in solidarity with Gen Z activists who peacefully marched to the Capitol last week and disrupted a session in the aftermath of the deadly mass shooting in Nashville. What did they ask for? For gun control and what are they getting? Well the expulsion of some of the only lawmakers who chose to stand with them in the aftermath of this violence and Republicans are disingenuously calling them insurrectionists which is a claim echoed by propagandists in right wing media like Matt Walsh and Jack Pasobiec and as a result these three Democrats may pay the price because they're going to have a vote on expulsion and it seems like there's really nothing that they can do to stop this from happening. So as Jake Johnson of Comet Dreams explains Tennessee House Republicans on Monday initiated the process of expelling three Democratic lawmakers who joined protesters in demanding stricter gun laws following the Nashville mass shooting that left three young children and three adults dead. Days after last week shooting thousands of demonstrators flooded the Tennessee State Capitol to decry GOP lawmakers in action in the face of deadly gun violence. Inside the House chamber Democratic representatives Justin Jones, Gloria Johnson and Justin Pearson took to the podium with a bullhorn and led demonstrators in chance supporting gun control legislation. As the Tennesseean reported Tennessee House Republicans cast the trio's actions as an insurrection and at the end of Monday's session introduced three expulsion resolutions claiming that the three Democrats did knowingly and intentionally bring disorder and dishonor to the House of Representatives through their individual and collective actions. A vote on the resolution is expected on Thursday quote Democrats will have little power to block the expulsions the Tennesseean noted so they're doing this they're actually going to expel these three Democrats. This is political retribution they know that this isn't an insurrection that's disingenuous and this is them just I guess getting payback on Democrats for saying that what the Republicans did on January 6th was an insurrection but there's a difference between a violent protest and a peaceful protest and even though these protesters did disrupt a session and they protested at the Capitol that doesn't make it equal to a fucking insurrection and they know that and Representative Jones tweeted tonight as Tennessee House Republicans push forward to schedule a vote on our expulsion speaker Sexton ordered the gallery cleared as the crowd chanted fascists the media was also forced out as well and then Representative Lafferty pushed him and grabbed his phone this is a sad day for Tennessee and now here's the video that Representative Jones shared where you can clearly see that the Republican literally assaulted him and he's just shameless like what else do you say just just watch it I mean there are cameras on you and you're still choosing to assault your Democratic colleague I just I don't know what to say about this now I guess that the silver lining is that these lawmakers aren't taking this lying down even if there's really nothing that they can do about this and also the people of Tennessee they're not accepting this either even if there's really nothing that they can do about this as well very well said it's just astonishing how shameless Republicans are and now they're trying to distract people with this bullshit expulsion campaign when they should be doing what their constituents want which is enacting gun control they're not asking for these Republicans to ban guns they're asking for moderate reasonable gun control but they they won't do it instead they're spending time on this expelling the few members of the legislature that chose to stand in solidarity with their calls for action in the aftermath of a deadly mass shooting they just don't care like I don't know how else to put this Republicans do not care if people die including children they just they couldn't care less Representative William Lamberth is another Republican who doesn't care and I think that he really is the embodiment of Republicans not giving a shit about dead children because after he was presumably asked to support an assault weapons ban here's what he told his constituents which included children by the way so you're not gonna like my answer and look I'm gonna say that straight up it's not about this one gun if there is a firearm out there that you're comfortable being shot with please show me which one it is there's not there's not right there every single gun in the hands of a crazy person a deranged person a convicted felon every single weapon out there when somebody's walking on the street with a giant ass gun for no reason please nobody's going to do good with that guy I understand that the goal is not but it's not you could ban that specific gun and you were going to do almost nothing to improve y'all sorry so in other words some of you may die but uh that's a price that I'm willing to pay so best of luck kids I'll be praying for you I just I'm almost speechless it's not like I'm shocked by anything that Republicans do at this point but to see how little they care it just it should shock everyone that this party continues to get elected and yes I understand that they rig elections due to voter suppression with gerrymandering but the fact that any American votes for them it just is shocking to me I'm not saying that Democrats are amazing and everyone has to pay guilty to them but the fact that Republicans that any republic Republican is politically viable it just it I think it's an embarrassment now they're not doing anything to support gun control and if anything they're just going to go further in the opposite direction because that's what they've done for years after their constituents have said that they want action common dreams continues far from back in gun control legislation Tennessee Republicans have sought to make firearms even more readily accessible in recent years the New York Times reported last week that Tennessee lawmakers have passed a series of measures that have weakened regulations eliminating some permit requirements and allowing most residents to carry loaded guns in public open or concealed without a permit training or special background checks yeah so that's the Republican Party folks if you live in Tennessee and you try to vote for an alternative well these power hungry fascists are just going to try to expel them if they do anything to catalyze action when they refuse to take action that their constituents are demanding but none of this is surprising Republicans across the country really seem hell bent on making Americans as miserable as they possibly can again this is the party that self identifies as pro-life but yet they won't even do the bare fucking minimum to protect their own citizens there's a reason why life expectancy in red states on average is substantially lower than blue states it's not just about gun violence it's also the overall lack of support for their own constituents when it comes to basic necessities this is all due to a hollowing out of state institutions at the behest of corporations that's freedom though according to these Republicans so i'm not sure what else to say about this story Republicans are literally destroying the country but they're just fine with everyone else suffering so long as everything is peachy for them so there you have it Republicans in Tennessee are actually going to try to expel their Democratic colleagues all for speaking out against their inaction it's a paragraph it's fascistic but i am not surprised in the slightest