Blog friend Jeff made a comment on my post about the recent school shooting here, making reference to the Tennessee legislature expelling "members who protested."
He is correct, but some context is in order.
After the tragic shooting at Covenant School, the typical pleas for reasonable gun legislation began. I joined in, as I don't see how in the world laws that attempt to keep guns out of the hands of those who should not have them ("red flag laws") and enhanced background checks do anything to infringe upon the rights of responsible gunowners.
But there has been very little room for debate here in Tennessee and, in fact, we seem to have gone in the opposite direction. The most recent gun laws allow for "permitless carry."
But with this shooting happening right under our collective nose, the tide might be shifting a bit.
Our governor, a staunch conservative Republican, signed an executive order that beefs up background checks, and he has issued a plea to legislators to pass red flag laws. This is shocking, to say the least, as he knows the opposition he is going to receive (and it has already started).
But back to the legislators who were expelled.
Three Democratic state representatives staged a protest on the floor of the House of Representatives about their colleagues' unwillingness to consider gun legislation. One of them used a bullhorn. They locked arms and chanted.
This was in clear violation of House rules. There is no question they were out of line. Caught up in the emotion of the moment, however, and with support from protesters surrounding the Capitol building, they decided rules be damned.
Their GOP brethren were quick to act. Rather than censuring them, which would have made sense, they moved to expel them. And they did, in fact, expel two of the three. The circus-like proceedings were much more of a spectacle than the protest had been.
Have you ever heard the term "bite off your nose to spite your face?"
That is exactly what happened. Within one week, local government bodies (one in Memphis and one in Nashville) responsible for appointing replacements for vacant house seats reappointed the very members who were expelled! They have already been re-sworn in!
So, what the GOP legislators accomplished was giving these two expelled lawmakers a platform to advertise their perceived mistreatment. There has been nationwide news coverage.
It happened that the two members who were expelled are Black, and the one who was up for expulsion, but was not voted out, is white. So, of course, the optics are terrible.
As I said, the three who conducted the protest on the House floor were out of line. Rules are in place for a reason, and they should have to follow those rules. There should have been consequences, but expulsion? Are you kidding me?
And, of course, we're back at square one, with nobody listening to each other.
3 comments:
Thanks, Bob, for your take on all this. The shootings are terrible and seem to be coming faster and faster. As a gun owner, I have no problems with background checks, red flag laws, limited the size of magazines, and even limiting military grade weapons. The expulsions seemed to make everything into a circus. I would agree that censure would have been appropriate, but to expel someone who has been elected is extreme and since they haven't kicked out others who seemed to fall into such categories, this action did not do anything positive.
This is a sign of the times. Instead of starting with the facts, that three people broke the rules of their congress, we immediately jumped to DEAFCON 3 calling it racism and trying to ignore the will of the people. I don't want to imagine a world in which anyone is able to hijack the floor of congress for a protest. The ones I am familiar with all ready get so little done and allowing free protests without consequence would only guarantee nothing will ever get done. The vocal minority will always rule the day which is a horrible thing and I'm even in the minority in many things my state does. I think they were rightfully punished, though I am unfamiliar with Tennessee constitution and whether censure or expulsion is the proper method for punishment. I am also unfamiliar with what happens next to them in your state, but I am assuming there will have to be a special election for both of them which will cost a lot of taxpayer dollars to finance. I would assume they themselves will also probably have benefit issues since their time in office is no longer continuous.
Thanks for sharing more about this, Bob. Yes, it's been on the National News, but as we all know, the media doesn't always provide all the facts.
I'm dismayed by so much going on these days, I'm tempted to bury my head in the sand (for the next two years).
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