School shootings have been a problem for quite some time, and sad as it is, it’s becoming more and more common to see headlines about such tragic events. Recently, three young 9-year-old students were killed along with three staff members in a private Christian school in Nashville, Tennessee, a state that does not ban assault weapons. This led to democratic representatives Gloria Johnson, Justin Jones, and Justin Pearson to make a move. 

The three representatives led a protest and chant with a large megaphone, the crowd made up of mostly youth demonstrators. They called out Republican leaders for not taking any action at all after the shooting or any other massacres in the state of Tennessee. 

Two out of these three representatives were later expelled from the House of Representatives by the Republican representatives for “not following the proper decorum.” The Democratic party is outraged by this because the two expelled representatives were Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, both who are African American. The Republican representatives were called “racially motivated” for their actions because Gloria Johnson, the other Democratic representative, was a 60 year old white woman. 

Even President Biden spoke on the topic of the expulsion, calling it “shocking, undemocratic, and without precedent”. He clearly stated his opinion by firmly criticizing the Republican representatives for not taking the correct precautions in order to prevent shootings and other violent events from occurring.  

Some also have been saying that the expulsion will distract political leaders from the problem that the Democratic representatives had been speaking about in the first place, in fear that people would forget about the shootings and why there had been a request for the gun ban in the first place.

With the rate of shootings increasing, and more and more people urging for gun bans around the country, we can only think about what may happen next for democracy and the well being of Americans over all.