Tennessee Republicans silence grieving mothers during gun law debate

Tuesday marked the second day of the Tennessee Legislature’s special session on gun violence. Ostensibly set up by Gov. Bill Lee to help legislate ways to make the state safer and protect children from the gun violence plaguing our country, the Republican-controlled state Senate and House spent the first day of the session creating rules designed to squash dissent.

Gun reform advocates showed up to the hearing Tuesday, many of whom have children who attend The Covenant School, where three children and three staff members were killed by a mass shooter on March 27, 2023. The Republican-controlled Legislature passed new rules Monday intended to restrict free speech, including a prohibition on signs of any size. Those new restrictions were quickly deployed against the moms and other reform advocates in attendance.

During the subcommittee hearing, two women holding small yellow paper signs that read, “1 KID > ALL THE GUNS” were escorted out by state troopers at the request of Republican state Rep. Lowell Russell, who chairs the subcommittee. One woman, identified as Nashville resident Allison Polidor, asked, “What about my First Amendment rights?” Polidor was visibly shaking as she was led out of the room by a state trooper, saying, “This is not what democracy looks like!”

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