March For Our Lives organized a massive student walkout in Nashville and the rest of Tennessee that was joined by parents, caregivers, allies, and three members of the state legislature who were threatened with expulsion.
According to a statement provided to PoliticusUSA by March For Our Lives:
 Young people led walkouts across Tennessee, with some 7,000 students, parents, caregivers, and Tennesseans of all stripes joining March For Our Lives at the State Capitol to demand action. But instead of heeding their calls to action, Tennessee State House Speaker Cameron Sexton is threatening to expel three legislators who joined young people to demand change.
Let’s be clear: Speaker Sexton has the power to keep children alive and ensure no more Tennessee children die from a bullet. He has the power of life and death. However, rather than using that power to keep us safe, he wants to play political games and expel three passionate legislators. Speaker Sexton is choosing death over life for a political win. Shame. Young people will not back down until we are safe.
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Speaker Sexton later tried to walk back his threat:
Their actions are and will always be unacceptable, and they break several rules of decorum and procedure on the House floor. Their actions and beliefs that they could be arrested on the House floor were an effort, unfortunately, to make themselves the victims.
— Speaker Cameron Sexton (@CSexton25) April 3, 2023
Sexton also tweeted about looking at all solutions and getting through this together, but Republicans have lost the messaging battle on guns. Each new school shooting increases the call and the pressure on the gun lobby politicians to do something.
Sarah Jones talked about the Nashville school shooting on Deadline DC with Brad Bannon:
No one is calling for gun confiscation or mass banning of all guns, which are always the points that the NRA and their Republican allies jump to. There is a more reasonable call for action to stop kids from getting murdered in their schools,
On a day when the media is obsessed with Donald Trump, students walked out of school and 7,000 people protested because America is tired of seeing children and adults slaughtered in mass shootings.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
