State Troopers push back crowd of protestors storming the Tennessee State Capitol
State troopers briefly detain one protestor, try to hold back others, as they press into Tennessee State Capitol to advocate for stricter gun laws after a shooting at a private Christian school in Nashville. (WTVF via Kelsey Gibbs)
A Tennessee Democratic lawmaker who escaped expulsion after storming the state Capitol with gun control protesters said "North Korea has more democracy" than the Volunteer State and claimed her Republican colleagues' attempts to oust her were a step toward fascism.
"I feel like North Korea has more democracy than we do in the state of Tennessee, and it's terrifying to me that we're in this march to fascism," state Rep. Gloria Johnson told left-wing outlet Mother Jones in an interview before the vote.
Johnson and two other Tennessee Democratic lawmakers - state Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson - faced expulsion after rushing the state Capitol with anti-gun protesters following Nashville's Covenant School shooting that left three adults and three children dead.
The motion to expel Johnson fell one vote short after the motion to expel Jones reached the necessary threshold to remove him. Pearson was expelled in a third vote.
Johnson evaded expulsion from the Tennessee legislature by one vote. (Nicole Hester /The Tennessean via AP)
Johnson claimed she most likely escaped expulsion because she is White.
"It might have to do with the color of our skin," Johnson said to a reporter after being asked why she was not expelled while Jones was. Pearson's legislative fate was still underway at the time of her comments.
Earlier in the week, Tennessee House Republicans voted to strip committee assignments from the three representatives.
Cameron Sexton, the Republican Speaker of the House, on Monday said the lawmakers' participation in the protest was "unacceptable."
"Their actions are and will always be unacceptable, and they break several rules of decorum and procedure on the House floor," he wrote on Twitter.
Rep. Justin Pearson, Rep. Justin Jones, Rep. Gloria Johnson People hold their hands up as they exit the House Chamber doors at Tennessee State Capitol Building in Nashville, Tenn., Monday, April 3, 2023. Tennessee Republican lawmakers have taken the first steps to expel three Democratic members from the GOP-dominant House for their role in a recent gun control protest at the state Capitol. (Nicole Hester /The Tennessean via AP)
"Their actions and beliefs that they could be arrested on the House floor were an effort, unfortunately, to make themselves the victims. 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."
Rep. Justin Jones of Nashville, Rep. Gloria Johnson of Knoxville, and Rep. Justin Pearson of Memphis stand together before a group of supporters on the floor below the House chambers following a session where it had been announced that Republicans had begun the process of their expulsion. (Nicole Hester /The Tennessean via AP)
Jones said in a press conference Monday that Sexton is prioritizing politics over addressing the school shooting.
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"We are members, who are standing in the well, telling our speakers and our colleagues that kids should not be murdered in school," Jones said. "And rather than address that issue, the speaker has spent more time on Twitter this weekend talking about a fake insurrection than he did about the deaths of six people including 9-year-old children."
Fox News Digital's Brandon Gillespie and Landon Mion contributed reporting.
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