Democrat Tennessee lawmakers Wednesday stopped in Chattanooga on their gun control bus tour, which began two weeks ago and will end in Nashville on August 21, the day the special session of the General Assembly, focused on gun control, will begin.
The tour has been led by State Rep. John Ray Clemmons (D-Nashville) and supported by likely U.S. Senate candidate and current State Representative Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville), who appeared at Wednesday’s event.
“Before I introduce my friend, I just want to thank you one more time,” said Clemmons (pictured above) in a video published by The Chattanooga Times Free Press. “You could be anywhere tonight. You could be spending time at home in the air conditioning, be with your kids or grandkids. But you feel so strongly about this issue that you took the time to come downtown and have an open, honest conversation, and I can’t be more appreciative, so thank you very much, Chattanooga.”
Clemmons then introduced Johnson, who was met with applause.
“This is such an important issue,” she said. “We have got to do something. We do not have to live like this. We can protect children in our community instead of protecting guns. That is the hope I have for getting something done – the power of the people.”
State Representative Bo Mitchell (D-Nashville) took the stage later in the event.
“When I was in school, we had fire drills [and] tornado drills,” Mitchell said. “Now, my children, they have active shooter drills.”
Mitchell said that in a meeting with House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) after The Covenant School shooting, during which they were to discuss the issue of gun control, his phone alerted him to a lockdown at his son’s school, allegedly because someone outside the school had a gun.
“I just slid my phone over to him,” said Mitchell. “I said, ‘I get this six or seven times a year.’ We shouldn’t have to live this way.”
One of the most staunchest ant-gun legislators in the state, Rep. Yusuf Hakeem (D-Chattanooga), also spoke.
“It’s not enough that we come to events like this,” he said. “This is the start. This puts us on the road to where we want to be from Hamilton County. But we have to realize that it’s a journey, it’s not one event. We’re gonna have to work with the legislature, with the legislators, with each other. Some things are beyond that individual piece. We have to do what’s, in my view, in the best interest of the children, that next generation.”
The Chattanooga Times Free Press reported earlier this week that Yusuf plans to introduce a bill during the special session to ban the further sales of semiautomatic weapons in the state.
– – –
Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter.
Photo “John Ray Clemmons” by chattanooga times free press.
Everyone of these people are violating their oath of office and need to be removed. Just remember these people when the next election rolls around. Not one of them mentions the huge numbers of murder by gun in every city that has strict gun laws. That is proof that restrictions on guns create MORE GUN VIOLENCE. And they know it. They are pushing an agenda and it has nothing to do with caring for our children. The issue is never the real issue with these anti-American marxists/communists. Yes, that is exactly what they are and the brainwashed masses that follow like sheep are just as bad.
wheels on the clown bus go round and round
round and round
round and round
wheels on the clown bus go round and round
all through Chattanooga
Who will protect our children from the likes of these people.
Why don’t Democrats do something to help the situation rather than trying to control everyone’s lives?
Because they are freaking Communist idiots!