Leftists Capitalize on Nashville Massacre in Two Ways

On March 30^th, activists came into the Tennessee statehouse to protest and call for stricter gun control laws. The impetus for this was a deadly shooting that occurred three days earlier in Nashville. Three elected members of the Tennessee State Legislature participated in this protest. Two of them went way too far with their actions by further provoking an already inflamed mob on the floor of the Statehouse. These progressive Congressman absolutely disrupted the legislative proceedings underway by shouting down any attempts at reasoned discussion of the issues at hand. This session of the legislature had to be shut down and abandoned due to the chaos. These actions are specifically forbidden in the Constitution of the State of Tennessee. In embarrassing contrast to claims by President Biden that this was a “peaceful” protest, these two legislators were caught on video shouting “No Action, no Peace” into their bullhorns inside the Congressional chambers.

Had all this activity occurred outdoors in front of the statehouse, it would probably have been considered a typical gun control protest of the sort that usually occurs after such tragedies. But in this case, mob activity and the accompanying incitement by the three legislators happened inside the state Capitol on the floor of the legislature during regular business. That fact brought the rules of decorum into play and triggered disciplinary action. The result was a House vote to expel two of these three members from their posts as elected state representatives.

A claim of racism was subsequently made against the Tennessee legislature because the two state Congressmen who were expelled, Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, are black and one who was not, Gloria Johnson, is white. What has not been widely reported about Gloria Johnson, intentionally, is that she did not shout through a bullhorn to incite the mob like the other two state Congressman did. She did stand silently beside Jones and Pearson in apparent solidarity with their actions.  Congresswoman Johnson survived expulsion by one vote. However, she was stripped of all her committee assignments and therefore lost her ability to influence key policies. Her voice in the Tennessee legislature was effectively muted. There was no racism or any other motive behind the decision to expel Jones and Pearson. They behaved like bullies whose purpose was purely to disrupt. They got what they deserved.

Despite their expulsion, it was known at the time that both Jones and Pearson could potentially reclaim their seats. To do that, they will both have to run in a special election and get elected again by the people in their districts.¹ More immediately, they could both be temporarily appointed by their respective district councils as “interim” representatives to fill the open seats created by their expulsions. Those brief appointments would last only until the special election occurs. Just yesterday in fact, Justin Jones was chosen by the Metro Nashville City Council to be the interim representative for that district. It is expected that Justin Pearson will be chosen as the interim representative for his district when the Shelby County Commission votes tomorrow. Should they both get re-elected in the upcoming special election, the case could be made that they will end up in a stronger position than Congresswoman Johnson since, as “new” incoming representatives, they won’t be restricted from committee assignments.

Tighter gun control laws have long been a policy goal for Democrats. They never miss an opportunity to use tragedies as just occurred in Nashville as fodder for political gain enroute to stricter gun laws. Six people were killed during this shooting rampage in Nashville on March 27th, including three children. While feigning to be on the side of the victims in these cases, those killed and the crushing emotional distress of their families simply became useful tools for progressive politicians.

Further illustrating this despicable behavior and utilizing this same Nashville massacre, leftists have proclaimed that the shooter, due only to her “transgender” status, should be treated as a “seventh victim”. This is insanity as well as brutally insensitive and disrespectful to the grieving families of the 3 children and 3 adults who were wantonly murdered. It exposes the fact that the left will take full advantage of tragedy to advance any part of their political agenda. Disgusting. Any normal person would identify the victims in this case to be the six innocent people killed by the shooter. But many Democrats, including the White House press secretary, are proclaiming that the shooter (who was killed by police) is also a victim.

Our popular culture today glorifies people identifying as transgender – destructively so in our opinion. For many, it’s become a badge of honor to identify as the other sex. For biologically male athletes in particular, it is a ticket to the podium and fame, otherwise unachievable in competition with those of their same sex. Large swaths of our society have now accepted transgender people as belonging to a demographic all their own, equivalent in terms of perceived social injustice to African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, and American Indians. Much as is the case with these other “victims” of social injustice, fault for bad behavior always lies somewhere else in society and is never the result of poor personal decisions or actions.

This is the definition of “victim” being used by progressives to describe the Nashville shooter. It’s as if somehow her death was just as tragic as the six people she killed. The reality is that this shooting was the action of a deranged psychopath.

Anyone who attempts to justify, explain away, or sympathize with this shooter, believing the killer was an oppressed victim of gender dysphoria, has completely lost perspective on the value of human life. This new societal norm, constantly pushed by progressive politicians, Hollywood, social media, and left wing activists, is destroying our moral compass. Unfortunately, sizable groups of people, especially young people, blindly accept this and other perverted progressive “norms” because they are made out to be popular in our culture.

Someone who shoots and kills innocent children is an inhuman abomination. Whether they identify as a male or female is completely irrelevant and of absolutely no consequence. Nashville police did exactly the right thing when they killed this savage animal.

¹ Much of the news media is misreporting how this process works. Jones and Pearson are not being “reinstated” as many outlets are reporting. Their expulsion still stands and is not being reversed. Their temporary appointments as interim representatives are just that – temporary. They could both lose the mandated upcoming special elections in their districts (mandated by their expulsions) and be replaced.