On Friday, Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to Nashville where she gave a passionate speech in support of gun control and visited with two state representatives who had been ejected from the General Assembly for demonstrating on the floor of the state House.
Kamala meets with a pair of state lawmakers who were expelled from the General Assembly after protesting on the state House floor. (Photo: thehour.com)
Kamala Harris’ Stance On Gun Safety Legislation
In her speech in the Fisk University chapel, Harris stated, “Let’s not fall for the false choice, which claims that you’re either in support of the Second Amendment or you want appropriate gun safety legislation. We can and should do both.
She said, referring to a mass massacre that ravaged a Nashville school last month: “The underlying issue is one that we are experiencing, over and over again; this town witnessed it directly just 11 days ago.”
The vice president met privately with former Tennessee Democratic Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, both Black males who were kicked out of the chamber the day before after protesting in favor of gun regulation, as well as the whole Democratic Tennessee state caucus. The White woman Rep. Gloria Johnson, who was spared in the Republican-backed ouster, which the group criticized as authoritarian, vengeful, and racially motivated, was present at the meeting.
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Kamala Harris’ Praised The Three Parliaments Who Were Up For Expulsion
The three parliamentarians who were up for expulsion were praised by the vice president because they “chose to lead and demonstrate courage.”
She said, “And these three realized the necessity of stepping up to say the people won’t be silent, to say that a democracy hears the cries, hears the pleas, who hear the demands of its people who say that children should be allowed to live, be safe, and go to school, without being in dread.
Harris used the occasion to emphasize the administration’s commitment to democracy, which a White House official had earlier on Friday told CNN was one of the goals of the trip.
She explained that she and the other elected officials “understand that we speak on behalf of the people who chose us.” The three of these leaders were not the focus. It had to do with who they were standing for. It concerns whose voices they were emulating. Recognize that; isn’t that what a democracy permits? ”
The last-minute travel demonstrates the importance that this issue and gun control are to the Biden administration. Prior to this, Harris had no planned public activities on that day.
According to an administration readout from Friday night, President Joe Biden spoke with the three Tennessee lawmakers to express his gratitude for their “leadership in seeking to ban assault weapons and standing up for our democratic values.” He also extended an invitation to all three to visit the White House.
Biden chastised Republicans for not acting more forcefully on gun control in a late-night statement on Thursday, calling the expulsion of the two lawmakers from the state’s House of Representatives “shocking, undemocratic, and without precedent.”
The president stated that these Republican members “have chosen to penalize, muzzle, and eject legitimately elected representatives of the people of Tennessee rather than debate the merits of the matter.” “A sizable majority of Americans want politicians to take action on sensible measures to gun safety that we know would save lives. Instead, Republican elected leaders have persisted in advancing risky legislation that reduces the safety of our communities, schools, and places of worship.
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