After being sworn back into the Tennessee House of Representatives, a lawmaker who was expelled just days ago over a gun control demonstration on the chamber floor said he’ll continue to call for gun reform.
“The first thing I do when I walk into this building as a representative is to continue that call for commonsense gun legislation,” Democrat Justin Jones said as he stood on the steps of the Capitol after his reinstatement Monday.
Jones and another Black Democrat, Justin J. Pearson, were forced out of the Republican-controlled legislature last week, after a protest on the chamber floor spurred by the mass shooting last month at a Nashville Christian school that left six people dead.
A third Democrat who had joined them in protest, Rep. Gloria Johnson, avoided expulsion. She is White.