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Tennessee Republicans, in the interest of preserving “decorum” in their august institution, are set to institute some new rules for the state House floor. Their notions of civility and decorum do not go so far, however, as to prevent lawmakers from packing heat in committee rooms.
Lawmakers are expected to approve the new rules for the Tennessee House of Representatives on Wednesday, after the House Rules Committee signed off on them on Monday.
Committee members also voted down a proposal from Democratic state Rep. Justin Jones to ban firearms from committee rooms. Guns are barred in the state Capitol building, but they are permitted inside committee rooms, which are located in a separate office building.
Tennessee is a permitless carry state. Jones, speaking to reporters after Monday's vote, said allowing guns into committee rooms is "an issue of safety."
"During special session, some members of the Proud Boys were here in the Legislature, and if we're sitting in the committee room, and people are sitting in front of you with a gun, that doesn't make anyone feel safe," he said.
Meanwhile, the committee voted to maintain strict rules of decorum that include stringent punishment for members deemed out of order by the House speaker, shorter time limits on debate, and the prohibition of visual aids, props or signs in the House chamber or committee rooms.
The new rules, if approved, would reflect the long-held priorities of Tennessee's GOP-led House. Last year, Republicans expelled Jones and Rep. Justin Pearson for leading a protest that called for tighter gun reform after a deadly shooting at the Covenant School, a grade school in Nashville. Republicans accused the two freshmen Black lawmakers of a grave breach of decorum; at the time, Speaker Cameron Sexton likened their protest to the Jan. 6 riots, saying it was “at least equivalent, maybe worse depending on how you look at it, of doing an insurrection in the Capitol.” Rep. Gloria Johnson, a longtime Tennessee House Democrat, survived expulsion by a single vote.
Jones and Pearson were reinstated by the Shelby County and Nashville governments days later.
Tennessee House Republicans enacted new decorum rules during a special session to discuss "public safety" in August 2023 and used those rules to silence Jones once more during a debate about increased law enforcement presence in schools. Despite a strong push from families of Covenant students, the special session adjourned with no new gun laws.