Tightening of gun laws | In Tennessee, an impeached lawmaker was voted back into office

Foreign countries|Tightening of gun laws

Stateside The city council of Nashville, Tennessee, voted by Justin Jones back to his position in the House of Representatives temporarily, the AFP news agency and The New York Times and The Washington Post newspapers say.

The council’s decision was unanimous and Jones was the only candidate on the ballot.

The council’s decision paves the way for Jones to return to the House of Representatives as its permanent member. The decision also raises tensions between the Republican-led House of Representatives and liberal areas of the state.

The Democratic Party Jones and Justin Pearson led together Gloria Johnson with a demonstration last week in the session hall of the House of Representatives, the purpose of which was to demand stricter gun laws. The demands were prompted by the recent mass shooting at a school in the city of Nashville, where three children and four adults were killed.

Jones and Pearson were fired from their positions on Thursday.

Johnson was only allowed to hold his position with 65-30 votes, when two-thirds of the votes are required for separation. When asked why he was allowed to keep his position, Johnson said it was “possibly connected to our skin colors.” Jones and Pearson are black and Johnson is white.

Meanwhile, local Memphis city officials are considering whether to send Pearson back to the House of Representatives on Wednesday. However, Pearson’s reappointment decision may be stricter than Jones’s.

“I think it’s going to be more difficult for the Tennessee Republican Party to continue their covert and overt racist tactics now that the whole country is watching,” Tennessee’s Democratic state senator London Depressionr told The Washington Post.

Both Pearson and Johnson will have to seek their return to office through elections in the coming months. This is because their new appointments will take effect more than 12 months before the next state election. Both have announced that they are ready to stand as candidates.

Speaker of the state House of Representatives, Republican Cameron Sexton said Jones and possibly Pearson would be reinstated under the state constitution.

The separation decision raised harsh criticism all over the United States. For example, the president Joe Biden described the dismissals as shocking, undemocratic and unheard of.