An elected member expelled from the Tennessee parliament after demonstrating for better arms control

An elected Democrat from Tennessee, who had demonstrated a week ago for better supervision of firearms after a massacre in a school, was excluded Thursday, April 6 from the House of Representatives of this American state, with a Republican majority.

Elected officials voted 72 votes for, and 25 against, the exclusion of Justin Jones, who joined hundreds of protesters on March 30 demanding stricter gun regulations a few days after a shooting at a Christian school in Nashville , the capital of this southern state, in which six people lost their lives, including three children.

The protesters had entered the Capitol of Tennessee to challenge the local elected officials gathered in session.

, they had chanted in the corridors.

Justin Jones had used a megaphone to invite protesters to shout slogans like

, according to several American media.

"We don't have democracy in Tennessee"

“An elected official who has expressed his opposition can be excluded, this is unheard of in Tennessee.

This has never happened in our history

,” reacted the elected official on American television.

," he continued.

Another elected Democrat, Gloria Johnson, also threatened with exclusion for the same reasons, managed to keep her seat, while the parliamentarians were to decide in the evening on the sidelining of a third elected Democrat, Justin Pearson, also accused of having participated in the demonstration.

“Shocking, anti-democratic and unprecedented”

“Three children and three officials killed in yet another mass shooting.

And what are the elected representatives of the Republican Party focusing on?

Punish elected officials who joined thousands of peaceful protesters calling for action

,” blasted US President Joe Biden on Twitter.

,” he added.

On March 28, Audrey Hale, 28, broke into a Christian primary school, the "Covenant School", with two assault rifles and a pistol, causing death before the police shot her dead.

The tragedy, whose motive remains unknown, has aroused great excitement and revived the debate on the circulation of firearms in the United States, where they represent the first cause of death for minors.