Tennessee Black lawmaker Justin Jones returns to House after expulsion over gun protest
One of the two American Black lawmakers, who were expelled last week from the Tennessee House of Representatives, has been reinstated as Democrats press for a reinstatement of the second state representative.
Representative Justin Jones returned to the state House on Monday, raising his fist in air while chanting "power to the people."
A Nashville-area council restored Jones to office following his expulsion over a gun protest over a deadly school shooting in Nashville.
Jones and Justin Pearson were both voted out of the Tennessee House last week for staging anti-gun protests on the House floor in the wake of the shooting.
Nashville school shooting had left three 9-year-old school children and three adults dead.
On Thursday, a majority of Republican lawmakers at the Tennessee House of Representatives decided to kick out Jones and Pearson for calling for gun law reforms in the protest on the House floor.
Gun laws are a disputed topic between Republicans and Democrats.
On Monday, about 600 protesters gathered outside the Metropolitan Council as it voted 36-0 appointing the 27-year-old Jones as the House interim representative.
Jones' supporters gathered outside the Nashville venue chanting, "Whose house? Our house!" and "No Justin, no peace" while displaying signs that read, "Protect kids, not guns" and "Stop sales of AR15."
Pearson, 28, the other young Black lawmaker who was expelled last week, could get a similar vote for reinstatement on Wednesday when the Shelby County Board of Commissioners will consider reappointing him to his Memphis district.
The are some 400 million guns in the United States which has a population of around 330 million.
Despite the majority of Americans being in favor of stricter gun laws, Congress has repeatedly failed to pass meaningful legislation to curb gun violence in the country.
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