President Joe Biden will meet next week with a trio of Tennessee lawmakers who faced expulsion votes over a gun control protest, a show of support as he pushes for tighter gun laws nationally.
(Bloomberg) — President Joe Biden will meet next week with a trio of Tennessee lawmakers who faced expulsion votes over a gun control protest, a show of support as he pushes for tighter gun laws nationally.
Biden will host Justin Jones, Justin Pearson, and Gloria Johnson at the White House on Monday, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.
Biden previously spoke by phone with the lawmakers, and “thanked them for their leadership in seeking to ban assault weapons,” Jean-Pierre told reporters Wednesday. “The president looks forward to continuing that discussion.”
Pearson, Jones and Johnson faced expulsion votes after joining a protest following a deadly Nashville school shooting, with lawmakers in the heavily Republican chamber ultimately ousting Pearson and Jones. Both have since been reinstated.
Biden is pushing for a national ban on assault weapons and has renewed the call in the aftermath of a series of mass shootings across the US this year. There’s no sign that Congress will pass any such measures.
The president “saw these three legislators as taking that next step where you were calling for assault weapons ban, which is incredibly important,” Jean-Pierre said, adding that he “was appreciative of their efforts and what they were trying to do in the statehouse.”
Last year, when Democrats controlled both chambers of Congress, lawmakers passed the first nationwide gun-control legislation in 30 years, tightening the national background-check system for gun purchasers under 21, and closing the so-called boyfriend loophole that allowed dating partners convicted of domestic abuse to buy guns.
Everytown for Gun Safety, which advocates gun-safety measures, is backed by Michael Bloomberg, founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP.
–With assistance from Josh Wingrove and Jenny Leonard.
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