(Headline USA) Vice President Kamala Harris made a last-minute tax-paid trip Friday to Tennessee where she demanded more anti-gun control laws and voiced support for the two Democratic lawmakers who were ousted for plotting what some called an “insurrection” against the state House of Representatives.
Harris was met with adoration from fellow Democrats at Nashville’s historically Black Fisk University and claimed that the so-called “Tennessee Three” — ousted Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson and a third Democrat, Gloria Johnson, who avoided expulsion by a single vote — were being silenced and stifled for standing up for the lives of schoolchildren.
“Let’s understand the underlying issue is about fighting for the safety of our children,” Harris claimed. “It’s been years now where they are taught to read and write and hide in a closet and be quiet if there’s a mass shooter at their school, where our children, who have God’s capacity to learn and lead, who go to school in fear.”
During her speech, Harris called for restrictive background checks, red flag laws and even more limits on assault rifles, ignoring that residents with felony convictions, DUIs and reported mental illnesses are already barred from purchasing or carrying guns, according to the Daily Mail.
“Let’s not fall for the false choice — either you’re in favor of the Second Amendment or you want reasonable gun safety laws,” Harris said. “We can and should do both.”
Conservatives blasted Harris for not meeting with the families and victims of the deadly school shooting that targeted Christians at a Nashville school and left seven dead. “Harris reveals herself,” tweeted actor Rob Schneider. “She visits when 3 Dem legislators kicked out […] but she doesn’t visit when 3 Nine Year Old Children are murdered…”
Kamala Harris isn’t going to Tennessee to meet with the families of those who died in the horrific shooting.
She’s going there to meet with Democrats who are upset over facing consequences for their actions. https://t.co/JR2QUaOcJq
— Dan K. Eberhart (@DanKEberhart) April 7, 2023
Conservative attorney and host Jenna Ellis slammed Harris for ignoring the victims of the mass shooting. “They’ve dismissed the real victims of this tragedy almost as badly as they did East Palestine, OH,” Ellis tweeted.
Tennessee Republicans accused the ousted lawmakers of plotting an “insurrection,” “disorderly behavior” and “knowingly and intentionally” bringing disorder to the state House. The accusations did not deter Harris, however, from privately meeting with the ousted trio.
Nashville Metro Councilperson Zulfat Suara addressed the crowd before Harris arrived, saying the expulsions “tell us exactly what we need to know about how the state views young Black men” standing up for what they believe. Evoking the city’s civil rights history, she said, “Just like John Lewis and Diane Nash did many years ago, we too will resist.”
Pearson, Johnson and Jones entered the packed chapel to a standing ovation.
President Joe Biden, who has called the GOP a “threat” to the country, labeled the trio’s expulsions as “shocking, undemocratic, and without precedent.”
“Rather than debating the merits of the issue (of gun control), these Republican lawmakers have chosen to punish, silence, and expel duly-elected representatives of the people of Tennessee,” Biden said in a Thursday statement.
The White House also said Friday afternoon that Biden spoke with Jones, Pearson and Johnson via conference call, thanking them “for their leadership in seeking to ban assault weapons and standing up for our democratic values.”
GOP leaders said Thursday’s actions were necessary to avoid setting a precedent that lawmakers’ disruptions of House proceedings through protest would be tolerated. Republican state Rep. Gino Bulso said the three Democrats had “effectively conducted a mutiny.”
Vide footage of the riot displays local law enforcement being pushed by hecklers who were invited by the ousted lawmakers.
This is the most violent insurrection in human history. Democrats stormed the Tennessee state Capitol over LGBTQ concerns. Our state should immediately issue a state of emergency. This insurrection makes 9/11 look like an average day. ARREST THE INSURRECTIONISTS! pic.twitter.com/Au8w4qmjQJ
— Dom Lucre | Breaker of Narratives (@dom_lucre) March 30, 2023
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press
