Tennessee’s House expels 2 of 3 Democrats over guns protest

Tennessee’s GOP-dominated House has expelled two of three Democratic members for their roles in a demonstration in favor of gun control following the Nashville school shooting. The chamber's split votes to oust Reps. Justin Pearson and Justin Jones on Thursday while narrowly sparing Rep. Gloria Johnson also have drawn accusations of racism. Pearson and Jones are Black, while Johnson is white. Republican leaders deny that race was a factor, however. Expulsions are an extraordinary move that the chamber has used only extremely rarely since the Civil War. They came a week after the trio chanted back and forth from the chamber floor with gun control supporters in the gallery days afer six people died in the school shooting.