“田纳西三人组”周一前往白宫会见总统乔·拜登历史性的驱逐行动这引发了全国的愤怒。
“你为我们的孩子挺身而出。你在为我们的社区挺身而出，”拜登在椭圆形办公室会议的顶部告诉田纳西州的立法者。
白宫新闻秘书郭佳欣·让-皮埃尔说，拜登亲自向民主党众议员贾斯汀·琼斯、贾斯汀·皮尔森和格洛丽亚·约翰逊发出邀请，感谢他们在领导枪支改革抗议中的领导作用，这场抗议导致琼斯和皮尔森被驱逐，约翰逊差点被驱逐。
“你会看到总统与这三位立法者坐下来，就如何推进常识性的枪支改革进行对话;如何继续保护我们的社区、我们的孩子、我们的教堂，”她周五告诉记者。
其他政府官员此前也表示过对三人组的支持。本月早些时候，副总统卡玛拉·哈里斯前往纳什维尔会见了三位议员，回应了他们对改革的呼吁。
“他们知道这三个人的地位的重要性，他们说人们不会沉默;说一个民主国家听到了哭喊声，听到了恳求声，听到了人民的要求，人民要求儿童应该能够生活、安全、上学，而不是处于恐惧之中。
2023年4月7日，田纳西州众议院投票驱逐了两名民主党议员贾斯汀·皮尔森和贾斯汀·琼斯，原因是他们在田纳西州纳什维尔的田纳西州议会大厦举行的枪支管制示威活动中扮演的角色。一天后，副总统卡玛拉·哈里斯在菲斯克纪念教堂发表讲话。
切尼·奥尔/路透社
数千人在田纳西州的国会大厦示威纳什维尔的校园枪击案3月27日，三名儿童和三名工作人员丧生。琼斯、皮尔森和约翰逊在州议会大厦领导枪支改革抗议后面临驱逐投票，大多数立法者认为这违反了商会的礼仪规则。
白人约翰逊是唯一一个在被驱逐投票中幸存下来的人。琼斯和皮尔逊都是黑人，他们被驱逐，后来又被地方议会恢复。所有人都被指控为他们的抗议给州议会带来了混乱和耻辱。
琼斯、贾斯汀和约翰逊告诉“GMA 3”类似地说，当他们加入呼吁解决枪支暴力时，他们只是在倾听人们的声音。
皮尔森说:“这是发生在纳什维尔圣约学校的悲剧，但田纳西州的共和党绝大多数人没有解决这一悲剧，而是决定我们使用第一修正案的权利来听取数千名抗议者的意见，这应该被驱逐。”
当天早些时候，纳什维尔的母亲莎拉·舒普·诺伊曼(Sarah Shoop Neumann)要求三位议员与拜登分享她写的一封关于社区需求的信。约翰逊回答说:“我明白了。”
田纳西州的州议会周五休会，没有对枪支改革采取任何行动，但共和党州长比尔·李宣布的他将召集一次特别会议，这样议员们可以回到国会讨论这个问题。李明博提出了一项“保护令”法律，旨在从那些被认为对周围人有危险的人手中收回枪支。
李明博在一份声明中说:“人们普遍认为，企图伤害自己或他人的危险、不稳定的个人不应获得武器。”。“我们也坚定地致力于维护第二修正案的权利，确保正当程序，并通过加强精神卫生资源来解决问题的核心。”
'Tennessee three' meet with Biden at the White House
The "Tennessee three" went to the White House on Monday to meet with President Joe Biden weeks after facinghistoric expulsion effortsthat sparked national outrage.
"You're standing up for our kids. You're standing up for our communities," Biden told the Tennessee lawmakers at the top of the Oval Office meeting.
Biden personally extended the invitation to Democratic state Reps. Justin Jones, Justin Pearson and Gloria Johnson, thanking them for their leadership in leading a gun reform protest that resulted in the expulsion of Jones and Pearson and near-ouster of Johnson, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.
"What you'll see is the president sitting down with these three legislators, having a conversation on how to move forward with commonsense gun reform; how to move forward on protecting our communities, our kids, our churches," she told reporters on Friday.
Other administration officials have previously demonstrated support for the trio. Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to Nashville to meet the three lawmakers earlier this month, echoing their calls for reform.
"They understood the importance, these three, of standing to say that people will not be silenced; to say that a democracy hears the cries, hears the pleas, who hears the demands of its people who say that children should be able to live and be safe and go to school and not be in fear," Harris said.
Cheney Orr/Reuters
Thousands of people demonstrated at the Tennessee Capitol in the wake of aschool shooting in Nashvilleon March 27 that left three children and three staff members dead. Jones, Pearson and Johnson faced expulsion votes after they led a gun reform protest in the state Capitol that most lawmakers found breached the chamber's rules of decorum.
Johnson, who is white, was the only one to survive her expulsion vote. Jones and Pearson, both Black, were ousted and later reinstated by local councils. All were accused of "bringing disorder and dishonor" to the state legislature for their protest.
Jones, Justin and Johnsontold "GMA 3"similarly said they were simply listening to the people when they joined calls to address gun violence.
"This was a tragedy that happened at the Covenant School in Nashville, but instead of addressing the tragedy the Republican supermajority in Tennessee decided that our using our First Amendment right to listen to the thousands of protesters deserved expulsion," Pearson said.
Earlier in the day, Sarah Shoop Neumann, a Nashville mom whose son is enrolled in pre-K at the Covenant School, asked the three lawmakers to share a letter with Biden she wrote on what the community needs. Johnson replied, "I got you."
Tennessee's state legislature adjourned Friday without any action on gun reform, but Republican Gov. Bill Leeannouncedhe will call a special session so lawmakers can return to the capitol and discuss the issue. Lee has proposed an "order of protection" law aimed at taking firearms away from those deemed a risk to those around them.
"There is broad agreement that dangerous, unstable individuals who intend to harm themselves or others should not have access to weapons," Lee said in a statement. "We also share a strong commitment to preserving Second Amendment rights, ensuring due process and addressing the heart of the problem with strengthened mental health resources."
