Gun Control Debate

[RoseMorninStar]

Heartbreaking.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Jon Stewart is so good.

[RoseMorninStar]

Artful.

[Jude]

I wish more journalists interviewed like he does.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Yet another school shooting, this one at a Nashville elementary school. 6 dead at least including 3 children. The only slight difference this time is that the shooter was a 28 year old woman, which only highlights how unusual it is that it isn't a man.

https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/nashvi ... index.html

[RoseMorninStar]

Heartbreaking. Again. *shakes head*

[Dave_LF]

You know, easy guns don't help, but I'm still pretty sure that you could flood a country like Germany with assault rifles without obtaining these outcomes. A big, big part of the problem is that the US is full of awful people, and there's no easy solution for that.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Yet another school shooting, this one at a Nashville elementary school. 6 dead at least including 3 children. The only slight difference this time is that the shooter was a 28 year old woman, which only highlights how unusual it is that it isn't a man.

Turns out to be not as much an exception to the rule as originally thought.

[N.E. Brigand]

And of course, that revelation led to a flood of right-wing commentators emphasizing that the killer was transgender as if that was the most important issue.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

And demand that the shooting be investigated as a "hate crime" against Christians.

[RoseMorninStar]

But if one should take a look at statistics and see a need for a group to point fingers at...


(it wouldn't be transgender persons).

[N.E. Brigand]

Always look on the bright side of life:

[N.E. Brigand]

That was posted in response to this news:

"Tennessee GOP expels first Democratic lawmaker over gun violence protests" (NBC).

Two other Democratic legislators are likely to be expelled later today. All three took part in an anti-gun violence protest last week on the statehouse floor. Such demonstrations are prohibited under chamber rules of decorum. The only previous members to have been expelled had been convicted of or were under investigation for criminal activity. These three legislators are not under criminal investigation, and as this particular member, Justin Jones, noted in a speech before the vote today, previous members have been allowed to remain in the body despite convictions for domestic abuse or credible allegations of child molestation.

Edited to add this quote from (now former) Rep. Jones, shortly before he was expelled:

"We had a member pee in another member’s chair, in this chamber — no expulsion. In fact, they’re in leadership."

[RoseMorninStar]

(...)
Edited to add this quote from (now former) Rep. Jones, shortly before he was expelled:

"We had a member pee in another member’s chair, in this chamber — no expulsion. In fact, they’re in leadership."

That is .. horrible. Disheartening. I don't know a lot about this case but the young man who was expelled was very articulate and well spoken. That is his crime (and having the wrong color of skin, I might guess).

[N.E. Brigand]

The three Democrats facing expulsion were two black men, Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, and one white woman, Gloria Johnson. (Yes I agree the scriptwriters screwed up by giving us two Justins. Always remember the Aruman option!) Expulsion requires a yes vote from two-thirds of the membership. Republicans hold three-fourths of the seats. They voted to expel the black men. They narrowly failed (by one vote) to expel the white woman. She says she probably got a pass for being white. Regardless, the whole thing is a travesty.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Did they even make any effort to differentiate why the black legislators were expelled? And the white one wasn't? So far as I know she did exactly the same thing that they did.

[N.E. Brigand]

All I saw was this:

[N.E. Brigand]

I keep seeing people likening the actions of Jones, Pearson, and Johnson to what happened on January 6th, which just seems nuts to me.

Here's how the Tennessean described the events in the statehouse on March 30 (one week ago today), in an article of which less than half concerned this particular event that has now led to the expulstion that President Biden calls "without precedent":

Emotions ran high in the crowd inside the Capitol, where protestors filed through security checkpoints before floor sessions Thursday morning. Though there was a brief moment where Tennessee Highway Patrol pulled a protestor out of the crowd as a lawmaker attempted to return to House chamber, there were no other altercations with security and protestors remained in areas open to the public.

"It was a loud demonstration but resolved peacefully," Tennessee Highway Patrol spokesperson Lt. Bill Miller said Friday. "It was resolved with no arrests and no damaged property." ....

Even as the crowds continued to chant outside, the House moved on to its lengthy Thursday agenda, which included bills delayed on Monday when lawmakers chose to pause floor debates hours after the Covenant shooting.

The House floor descended into chaos later in the morning, after Sexton repeatedly gaveled down members of the public in the gallery, and two outspoken freshman Democrats who continually called for colleagues to address gun reform.

"I'm asking you to do your job," one woman screamed from the gallery. "There is blood on your hands. Do your job."

After butting heads with Rep. Justin Pearson, D-Memphis, and Rep. Justin Jones, D-Nashville, Sexton called all leadership up to the dais. As leaders of both the Republican and Democratic caucuses engaged in heated discussions, Pearson and Jones took over the House chamber well.

The pair, flanked by Rep. Gloria Johnson, D-Knoxville, began leading the House galleries in chants of "gun reform now."

They later walked off the House floor after a heated confrontation with their own Democratic leadership. The House resumed its regular calendar, though Republicans pushed back on some otherwise non-controversial Democratic bills.

Pearson and Jones could face potential sanctions for the incident moving forward.

"What is not okay is for members to try to take over the House and start something inside this chamber. That is never okay, that is not what being a member of the General Assembly is," Sexton said. "We will handle that in due course in the coming days or weeks as we move forward."

Here's the photo from that story:



Here is Biden's response to today's events:

[RoseMorninStar]

I am not sure of the legalities, but the people of those districts (who are losing the Justin's) are able to appoint someone to the positions. I wonder if they can re-appoint their previously elected officials?

[N.E. Brigand]

Josh Marshall helpfully offers a comparison: back in 2016, Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives staged a 24-hour sit-in on the floor of the House over this very issue, and while House Republicans were upset by this demonstration, their leader, Paul Ryan, wasn't "a complete idiot" and just let it play out.