Gun control remains a key issue in what is a neck-and-neck race for the White House, and it’s also a big issue in Aotearoa, with the coalition government’s plans to reform the country’s gun laws.
In Tennessee, state representatives are shining a light on America’s gun laws while advocating for justice.
Justin Jones and Justin Pearson are challenging the status quo in Tennessee over gun violence.
“People don’t want to listen,” Pearson told Te Ao with Moana. “They don’t want to engage. They fight back. They resist. But that’s our job to keep speaking up, to keep fighting for them,” Pearson said.
In 2023, gun control advocates flocked to Tennessee’s state capital in Nashville after three Democratic lawmakers were ousted for allegedly violating House rules. Their expulsion made national headlines as Republicans took unprecedented action against them
Jones said the Republican Party “chose to assault democracy and took the unprecedented step of expelling us”.
The crowd cheered as the under-fire representatives walked out of an elevator, hands joined in solidarity.
We called for you all to ban assault weapons. And you respond with an assault on democracy.
— Justin Jones
Nashville’s Justin Jones is of Filipino and African American descent and has a background in activism, academic and as a community leader.
He said people were fed up with a system prioritising gun industry profits over children’s lives.
“They’re sick and tired of a system where it’s easier getting a gun than to vote. They’re tired of a system where once if you do get shot, we don’t have healthcare. So they have exorbitant medical bills if they survive.”
In Memphis, Justin Jamal Pearson, a social justice activist said it was his job to make sure the causes and concerns of people who had consistently been left out were being elevated.
“It is really hard to be focused on solutions that are data-driven and people centred. But the reality is the status quo is not benefiting the majority of us, including white folk, including poor folk, including queer folk, including black folk and indigenous folks in our communities.”
School shootings
“Growing up, all my life, being scared of getting shot in school,” high school student Chloe Spangler said.
In March of last year, hundreds of demonstrators filled the Tennessee State Legislature, demanding gun control.
It’s ripping our communities apart
— President Joe Biden
Jones said last year a mass shooting took the lives of three nine-year-olds and three adults at a private event.
“In Tennessee, it’s easier to get a gun than it is to vote. You have to show an ID card to vote but you don’t have to show an ID card to get a gun.
“That is the insanity of what we’re experiencing. And so after this mass shooting, we saw thousands of students filling up the galleries, filling up the rotunda, saying do something, protect kids, not guns.”
On the day of expulsion 1000 people gathered in support.
“We’ve got to do something about these pressing issues of gun violence, social issues, that for too far and for too long have been overlooked.”