Tennessee Republicans move to expel Democratic lawmakers who joined gun protest in Capitol

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• Amna Nawaz:

  Protests are ongoing in Tennessee after six people lost their lives at the Covenant Elementary School in Nashville last week.

  Stephanie Sy reports on the calls for action.

• Stephanie Sy:

  More than 1,000 students in the Nashville area walked out of their schools yesterday at 10:13 a.m., the same time the shooter opened fire at Covenant Elementary a week earlier. They marched to the Tennessee state capitol to call for stronger gun laws.

  Since last week, demonstrators have convened at the Capitol even entering the building to shout "Save our kids" and grab the attention of lawmakers.

  Now Tennessee House Republicans are moving to expel three Democratic lawmakers who joined those protests, among them, state Representative Gloria Johnson, who represents part of Knox County.

  Representative Johnson, thank you so much for joining us.

  The expulsion threats stem from what you and your colleagues did in the House chamber last Thursday. I understand you breached House rules when you took over the podium to lead protest chants.

  The Republican leader says this amounted to disorderly behavior. What led you to do what you did? And did it cause disorder?

• State Rep. Gloria Johnson (D-TN):

  Well, we — since that morning, we had been silenced. We usually have something called welcoming and honoring.

  They didn't call on us. We wanted to welcome the protesters there. We wanted to honor the issue they were talking about. And we were not given the opportunity. Several times during that day, we had tried to make that — during that morning, we tried to make that effort and were shut down.

  And so we decided that, between bills, we were going to walk to the podium and thank the protesters for being there, acknowledge the issue of gun violence and how important it was, and tell them that we were committed to work on issues to solve the problem of gun violence.

  We were up there for about 20 seconds when the speaker — when the mics got cut. One of my colleagues did have a small megaphone and used that to continue speaking. And then we — and we did chant for a few minutes with the people in the gallery. But that all took place during recess.

  After 20 seconds, when they cut the mic, they also called a recess. So the time that we were up there, probably about five minutes after they cut the mic, it was during a recess.

• Stephanie Sy:

  And I understand that one of the chants was "No action, no peace."

  I also read an interview where you said Republicans have called to support you since that protest. Do you have enough support to survive an expulsion vote?

• State Rep. Gloria Johnson:

  Well, the Republicans that called me were not the elected representatives in that body.

  Those were the folks in my district and across the state, because, overwhelmingly, in my district, more than 50 percent of Republicans support gun sense measures like red flag laws and safe storage laws. Republicans in my district are — and a majority of Republicans in my district are calling for solutions to gun violence, and they support measures to limit weapons, and certainly to limit weapons for people who are a danger to themselves or others.

• Stephanie Sy:

  When it comes to the safety of schools, Republicans say they are taking action. Governor Bill Lee is proposing, for example, allotting $140 million for school resource officers, $20 million for public school security improvements, $7 million for private school security, as well as mental health liaisons in schools.

  Why do you, Representative, think that is not enough to protect children from gun violence?

• State Rep. Gloria Johnson:

  We need to prevent the guns from getting to the schoolhouse door.

  He's just talking about dealing with them once they're there, where people are at risk of being hurt. He didn't mention guns in any of his solutions. And the reality is, one of our members, the — our leader actually said: "Well, I will put a tank at every school if that's what it takes."

  We don't need to harden our schools and make them look like prisons. We need to address the issue of the guns that are coming to the schoolhouse door. Let's prevent the guns from ever getting to our schoolhouse door. And the reality is that there are commonsense things that we can do. And we have the data and research that shows us what works. Red flags law — red flag laws work. Safe storage laws work.

  And why aren't we addressing that issue, as well as security within schools? Because, if we can prevent those guns from ever getting to the schoolhouse door, then we can prevent death and injury.

• Stephanie Sy:

  I know that you are calling for yet another protest on Thursday. That's the day that the body is supposed to vote on this motion to expel.

  And not only are you facing a pro-gun supermajority in Tennessee, but Smith & Wesson is already building its headquarters in Tennessee. You have a very pro-gun statewide constituency. Are attention-grabbing protests for you the only recourse you think you have as a Democrat in that state right now, is just to draw attention to the issue?

• State Rep. Gloria Johnson:

  Well, so, because of the problem of redistricting in Tennessee, even though 40 to 45 percent of Tennesseans are Democrats, we don't have that voice. We only have 25 percent of the state House.

  And so the voices of the people are not being lifted up. And, yes, we need the people to show up to help us lift up that voice and to let people know that it's not just Democrats that want some gun sense legislation, but it's Republicans and independents as well.

  We are going to continue to speak up until someone takes action, because thoughts and prayers are clearly not getting it done.

• Stephanie Sy:

  Representative Gloria Johnson joining us from Nashville, thank you so much.

• State Rep. Gloria Johnson:

  Absolutely. Thank you.