Justin Jones Vows To Continue Fighting For Gun Legislation After Reinstatement
Newly reinstated Tennessee state Rep. Justin Jones (D) vowed to continue fighting for stricter gun laws after he was one of two Black lawmakers to be expelled last week for violating decorum laws by protesting on the state House floor.
Jones addressed supporters outside the state Capitol on Monday after the Nashville Metropolitan Council voted to give him his job back. He referenced the students who motivated his and fellow Democrats’ call for action on guns after a Nashville school massacre that killed three children and three adults.
“It was students walking out of classes and taking to this Capitol that led us into the well that day, calling for common sense gun laws,” Jones said. “And the first thing I’ll do when I walk into that building as a representative is to continue that call for common sense gun legislation.”
Jones will be allowed to introduce 15 new bills following his reinstatement because the ones he filed before his expulsion were transferred to Democratic Caucus Floor Leader Karen Camper, according to The Tennessean.
Jones has pledged to remain focused on gun reform.
“Every single one of those bills going to have to do with that, because that’s what these young people are begging us to do,” Jones told CNN.
Jones and his colleague Justin Pearson were both expelled from the GOP-controlled state House for “disorderly behavior” that “knowingly and intentionally” brought “disorder and dishonor to the House of Representatives” after they chanted in favor of gun reform. A third Democrat who joined the action, Rep. Gloria Johnson, who is white, narrowly survived her expulsion vote.
A vote for Pearson’s reinstatement is set to happen Wednesday.
Asked if he would be willing to violate decorum laws again to make a point on gun reform, Pearson told CNN: “Sometimes rules have to be broken in order for us to create justice.”
“We’re willing to risk it all for people to be saved,” Pearson continued.
There was yet another mass shooting in the U.S. on Monday morning, when a gunman opened fire at a bank in downtown Louisville, Kentucky, and killed five people.
