“The Tennessee Three”: Justin Jones, Justin Pearson and Rep. Gloria Johnson
Harley Woods | April 13, 2023
A group of three Tenn. lawmakers consisting of Justin Jones, Justin Pearson and Rep. Gloria Johnson have come to be known as the “Tennessee Three” following their protest of gun violence in the House chamber.
Lawmakers Jones and Pearson were expelled from the Tenn. state legislature on April 6. Though the two were also accompanied by Rep. Gloria Johnson of Tenn., the senate did not reach a two-thirds majority to expel Johnson. When asked why she believed she was not expelled, Johnson told the WSJ that she believed it had to do with the color of her skin.
The three lawmakers gathered to protest gun violence following a mass shooting at a Christian school in Nashville on March 27. Tenn. House Speaker Cameron Sexton stated that “he would not allow them to set a new precedent for breaking decorum.”
Forbes reported that there have been 146 mass shootings in 2023 thus far. The Gun Violence Archive provides different methods of mapping out and narrowing down criteria for what qualifies as a mass shooting.
Everytown for Gun Safety mapped out a visualization of the prevalence of gun violence juxtaposed to the strength of gun laws in that state. California is ranked number one, while Mississippi is ranked number fifty.
The majority of Americans believe that gun violence is a problem, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center conducted in April 2021. Forty-eight percent of surveyors responded that gun violence is “a very big problem.”
The breakdown goes further, distinguishing response to gun violence by self-identified race. The three distinctions were as follows: 82% of Black surveyors responded that it is a very big problem, 58% of Hispanic surveyors responded that it is a very big problem, followed by white surveyors at 39%.
Gun violence continues to rise every year. Despite the violence, legislators have not passed stricter gun laws.
On April 10, the Nashville Metro Council met and unanimously voted to reinstate Justin Jones. On April 12, the Shelby County Commission of Memphis will meet to vote whether to reinstate Justin Pearson.