Nashville protesters rally for the ‘Tennessee Three,’ demand gun control

On Thursday morning, lawmakers in the capitol building in Nashville, Tennessee, were met with a sea of angry, heartbroken, and determinedly vocal young people. 

“The energy is palpable — high school students, college students, and middle schoolers across the state are taking the lead in this space because they are tired of being ignored,” March For Our Lives student activist Ezri Tyler, 19, told Mashable.

In addition to continuing shouts for gun reform and school safety that resounded throughout the week(Opens in a new tab) — organized in the wake of the March 27 Nashville school shooting(Opens in a new tab) that left three 9-year-olds and three adults dead — the student activists and their allies were decrying the actions of Tennessee lawmakers(Opens in a new tab) against Reps. Gloria Johnson, Justin Jones, and Justin Pearson.

The three legislators were stripped of their committee assignments and faced a vote from the Republican majority(Opens in a new tab), led by Speaker Cameron Sexton, that would potentially expel each from office(Opens in a new tab) for violating House conduct rules. The lawmakers (dubbed the “Tennessee Three” online) had brought “No action, no peace!” chants to the House floor(Opens in a new tab), using a bullhorn to amplify the demonstrators’ calls for action.

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National student-led advocacy group March For Our Lives, one of several organizing groups already taking over the city’s legislative center, immediately cried foul. “We do not live in a democracy if mics are being cut when we try to make a stand. This is an abuse of power. This is an attack on our democracy,” the organization tweeted(Opens in a new tab). 

So, they expanded their gun control protest into what they dubbed an anti-fascism rally(Opens in a new tab). “Monday we walked out and marched; Today, we’re rallying for democracy.”

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As Johnson, Jones, and Pearson waited out the vote with activists, cries rang through the building: 

“Free, free, free. Free the Tennessee Three!” “Hey, reps, listen: Schools are not a prison!” “You ban books. You ban drag. Kids are still in body bags!”

“We have had hundreds of folks and dozens of students leading chants for almost four hours straight now in the rotunda, and it is disrupting the chamber,” Tyler described. “We have now had Justin Jones, Justin Pearson, and Gloria come out, and each time they join us in song — same with when they speak in session, the gallery breaks out in song and they can hear us and have made it clear they are with us.”

Brynn Jones, 21, another March For Our Lives activist on the ground in Nashville, explained that the group isn’t letting lawmakers distract the public from the issue at hand. “I definitely think that this expulsion is political theater, with the majority moving bills on ‘school safety’ to today(Opens in a new tab) to try to demonstrate that it’s not about gun violence. But that is exactly what this is about. The House is desperate to silence their opposition and protesters, and the students that have stayed here for almost four hours prove that they are not going to be successful.”

Hours later, the House voted to expel Reps. Jones and Pearson(Opens in a new tab). The resolution to expel Rep. Johnson failed by a single vote.

Many were quick to note the disparity in results: two young representatives of color ousted, while the single white lawmaker remained. “I think it’s pretty clear [why]. I’m a 60-year-old white woman, and they are two young Black men,” Johnson said to CNN(Opens in a new tab) of the decision to keep her in the House. “In listening to the questions and the way they were questioned and the way they were talked to — I was talked down to as a woman, mansplained to, but it was completely different from the questioning that they got. And this whole idea that you have to almost assimilate into this body, to be like us.”

“We called for you all to ban assault weapons, and you respond with an assault on democracy,” Jones told his fellow legislators before the vote. In response to statements from other House members that Jones was being removed because he needed to “be more collegial and less focused on race(Opens in a new tab),” he replied, “I’m not here to make friends. I’m here to make a change for my community.”

Speaking to the press following his expulsion, Pearson noted the “racial dynamic(Opens in a new tab)” of the day’s vote, but also called for sustained attention on the issue of gun violence. “We need to fight for democracy in the state of Tennessee, and we need people not only to vote but people to show up and show out so we can end the gun violence epidemic in our state. This is wrong. This is unjust. And this is not the way that it has to be.”

Jones’ and Pearson’s expulsions don’t seal their fate, however. Expelled lawmakers are still eligible for appointment back to their seats, as well as entry in special election races, and they can’t be expelled for the same offense twice, according to Tennessee law.

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National walkouts continue a larger movement

The week of action had began with a 7,000-student walkout from nearby Nashville schools to the capitol — met by allies, educators, supportive lawmakers, and even other issue protesters in an intersectional display of youth activism(Opens in a new tab) — and led into nationwide protests from student activists on April 5. 

Credit: John Amis / AFP

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Students Demand Action(Opens in a new tab), the student advocacy arm of Everytown for Gun Safety(Opens in a new tab), organized the walkouts en masse to show lawmakers everywhere that Nashville is one of many instances of a nationwide problem — a cry they’ve been shouting for years. 

Zack Maaieh, a 20-year-old Students Demand Action activist and leader of Nashville’s Vanderbilt University chapter, told Mashable that the feeling on the ground in Tennessee was one of anger and energy. 

“I and a lot of people were heartbroken, as shooting after shooting kept happening, but I think the feeling of that heartbreak turned into anger. I got frustrated because we have all of this gun violence happening every day in this country, here in Tennessee, and yet our legislators are doing nothing to stop it. Instead of focusing on the issue at hand, which is people with negative intent getting access to firearms, they are putting more guns in people’s hands,” Maaieh said. 

Students Demand Action activists, including Maaieh, also attended a Wednesday hearing over a bill that would allow teachers to carry concealed handguns(Opens in a new tab) on campuses, which many say is just adding more risk and distracting from effective legislative options.

“No one was there to support the bill. There was a room full of people frustrated, mad, and angry, and yet they ignored that. They ignored the pleas from students, from parents, and from teachers,” Maaieh said. “It goes to show just how frustrating it is to have a legislature that isn’t working with us, even though we are coming to the table and we are offering solutions.”

“We are just adding fire to fire, adding guns to more guns. It doesn’t make sense,” said Bobbi Sloan, a 20-year-old student on the ground with Students Demand Action. Sloan is a sophomore at Vanderbilt University studying elementary education. She’s currently working in classroom settings as part of her degree, and attended this week’s vote on arming teachers. 

“As a teacher, it’s been very frustrating to be here. I fear for my life. I fear for my students. I fear for everything I will be and for what I am now,” Sloan said. “That same fear holds for all my classmates who are out in the field with me doing fieldwork, doing practicum, students doing student teaching. After that hearing, I had to go teach at a middle school. It was jarring to see these representatives making claims that I know would not be said by people who actually have experience in a classroom.”

Credit: Everytown for Gun Safety

Rather than actions that put more guns in public spaces, common sense gun reform advocates like those with Students Demand Action want to see actions that prioritize safety and controlled access. Extreme Risk or Red Flag Laws(Opens in a new tab), for example, establish ways for concerned citizens and law enforcement to intervene when they believe a gun holder may be at risk of harming themselves or others.

Students Demand Action also advocates against laws like permitless carry, the manufacturing of ​​high capacity assault weapons, and the marketing of weapons to young people. 

“I want to emphasize that we want to work with everybody who wants to work with us,” Maaieh said. “This is an issue we all agree on, we just need to sit down together.”

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March For Our Lives imagines a policy agenda that rewrites the “glorification” of guns, political apathy, and corruption(Opens in a new tab) underlying gun violence, including the arming of state actors and the low standards for gun owners. Other organizations like Team Enough(Opens in a new tab) seek to reduce gun violence by acknowledging systemic factors like racism, poverty, and other environmental considerations, with specific focus on helping communities of color. 

As these groups take to the streets and legislative buildings in Nashville and beyond, their proposed approaches of addressing the epidemic of gun violence haven’t yet convinced enough representatives to step up and take meaningful action, activists emphasized.

“I hope nationwide there are condemnations of the actions of the Tennessee legislators, more conversations about common sense gun control, and an acknowledgment of the importance of this moment in Nashville,” Jones said. “People have been coming out by the thousands to protest gun violence over the last 10 days, and the importance of these demonstrations cannot be overstated. Today is fundamentally about supporting the representatives who advocated for their constituents and protest against the backsliding of democratic norms that this action by Speaker Sexton and the House represents.”

Credit: Everytown for Gun Safety

Maaieh echoed the thoughts of others on the ground regarding the actions of Tennessee lawmakers bogging down an already uphill climb to passing effective gun reform legislation. “This story isn’t necessarily unique to Tennessee. There are other states with legislatures actively refusing to pass safety legislation. It just so happens that Tennessee is in the headlines.”

Even though there appears to be growing, nonpartisan agreement on the need for action, national gun reform advocacy groups are still at odds with the actions of state representatives. Instead of productive conversations, activists like Maaieh say, lawmakers are still hemming and hawing across political (and moral) lines decades later. 

Credit: John Amis / AFP

“We’ve had so many thoughts and prayers, but our prayers are empty if we don’t act on them,” he said. “I think we have to act against gun violence precisely because God has given us the tools to do so. ‘God won’t help those who won’t help themselves.’ This is how God has answered those prayers.”

UPDATE: Apr. 7, 2023, 10:26 a.m. EDT This story was updated with additional information following the expulsion vote, as well as with an additional statement from Students Demand Action.

UPDATE: Apr. 6, 2023, 8:47 p.m. EDT This story was updated to include the expulsion of Rep. Justin Pearson and the failed vote to expel Rep. Gloria Johnson on Thursday evening.

UPDATE: Apr. 6, 2023, 5:30 p.m. EDT This story was updated to include the expulsion of Rep. Justin Jones on Thursday afternoon.