Demo for stricter gun laws – two Democrats evicted from the US House of Representatives

Tennessee’s Republican-led House of Representatives has expelled two Democrats. Another MP, who should also be excluded, narrowly survived the vote on Thursday (local time). The three MPs took part in a demonstration in parliament last week for stricter gun laws. Their behavior brought disorder and disgrace to the House of Representatives, according to The Tennessean newspaper in resolutions introduced by Republicans calling for their exclusion. After the exclusion, citizens protested loudly in the parliament building.

According to a New York Times report, Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives Cameron Sexton compared the three MPs to the attackers who stormed the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6. The two MPs expelled were both black, the third MP not expelled was white.

US President Joe Biden described the process on Twitter on Thursday as shocking, undemocratic and unprecedented. White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said the ousted lawmakers showed solidarity with children and families peacefully demonstrating for tougher gun laws. In Tennessee and across the U.S., children have paid the price for Republican lawmakers who resist passing such legislation, Jean-Pierre said.

Former US President Barack Obama called what happened in the Tennessee House of Representatives an example of “a broader erosion of decency and democratic norms.”

The protests, which included lawmakers, came after three children and three adults were killed by an attacker at a Nashville elementary school in late March. According to police reports, the suspected gunman was shot dead by police officers after the attack. It was about a 28-year-old woman who used to go to school herself, it said. She was armed with at least two assault rifles and a pistol. (sda/dpa)