American DemocracY Dies in Tennessee

By Stacy M. Brown NNPA NEWSWIRE SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT

Editor’s Note: Expelled state lawmaker Justin Jones was reinstated to the Tennessee House early Monday evening, on April 10, 2023, after receiving all 36 council votes cast

“I am a 60-year-old white woman, and [the two ousted] are two young Black men,” Johnson asserted.

“God bless the families of those little kids,” said the bill’s author, Senator Anthony Portantino (D-Burbank) at the hearing. “Gun violence inflicts a terrible toll on our communities. Last year, nearly 20,000 people were killed in gun related homicides in the United States. To put that in perspective, it’s enough people to fill forty Boeing 747s, and sadly, the number keeps rising.”