President Joe Biden has invited three Tennessee Democrats to the White House who had earlier disrupted state House proceedings with a gun control protest, but is maintaining silence on whether victims of the school shooting incident that triggered the protest would be invited.
When a reporter asked whether any of the victims or victims’ families have been invited to the White House, Jean-Pierre replied, “I don’t have anything to read out to you about any invite.”
During the questioning when the reporter asked about the lawmakers who led the protests, the press secretary interjected and insisted that they had “peacefully protested.”
“Earlier this month, the president spoke to them by phone after they were subjugated to expulsion votes in the Tennessee statehouse for peacefully protesting in support of stronger gun safety laws following the shooting at Covenant School in Nashville,” Jean-Pierre said.
“During that call, the president thanked them for their leadership in seeking to ban assault weapons and standing up for the democratic values. And the three lawmakers thanked the president for his leadership on gun safety and for spotlighting the undemocratic and unprecedented attacks on them in the Tennessee statehouse.”
The Raucous Protest
On March 30, Jones, Pearson, and Johnson had broken decorum by leading hundreds of protesters to the well of the House floor. Protestors chanted and displayed anti-gun slogans on the House floor, which resulted in the chamber deliberations being halted. The chamber then went into recess.Jones shouted “No action, no peace” through a bullhorn while he held up a sign that said, “Protect kids, not guns.”
The Republican-controlled House subsequently voted to expel Jones and Pearson, with a resolution stating that the Democrats had knowingly and intentionally brought “disorder and dishonor to the House of Representatives.”
Unlike Pearson and Jones, Johnson was not expelled, which some assume may be due to the fact that Johnson did not use a megaphone. Jones and Pearson were later reinstated by local officials.
‘Unacceptable’ Behavior
The expulsion of the Democrat lawmakers had attracted criticism from Biden at the time, with the president insisting that they had only “engaged in peaceful protest.” He had called the expulsions “shocking, undemocratic, and without precedent.”However, Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton, a Republican, said that the Democrats’ actions “are and will always be unacceptable.”
“In effect, those actions took away the voices of the protestors, the focus on the six victims who lost their lives, and the families who lost their loved ones.”
The order states that the background check system in place for gun purchases must be accurate and complete. It instructs entities that are obligated to report information such as mental health details to provide such information to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation within 72 hours of receiving it.
