Applause angered a House sub-committee chairman Tuesday enough that he cleared the room of all members of the public — including mothers of Covenant School students — in a move one leading lawmaker called “petty” and “embarrassing.”
The meeting was one of the first to review legislation in Gov. Bill Lee’s special session on public safety that began Monday. The room was packed for the House Civil Justice Subcommittee hearing, with some in the audience holding protest signs and many wearing red shirts for the group Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense In America.
Before the meeting began, subcommittee chairman Rep. Lowell Russell (R-Vonore), a retired state trooper, issued a warning to those in the audience holding signs. Signs were banned during the special session under rules approved by the House Republican supermajority Monday, even a standard letter-sized piece of paper with a statement written with a standard pen.
“I’m still seeing signs,” Russell said before the meeting began. “If there’s an ongoing problem with these signs, we’ll just clear the room.”
Russell then singled out a member of the audience who, presumably, did not drop her sign. She was escorted — with hands on her body — by a Tennessee State Trooper who guided her past the front row, in front of the committee (to which she yelled something unintelligible on the stream of the meeting), and was taken from the room.
A second young, female protestor was similarly sectored by troopers while she held her sign over her head.
With the removal done, Rep. Antonio Parkinson (D-Memphis) — the only Democrat on the panel — thanked “the moms in the rooms fighting for the lives of our children.” The statement was met with applause.
Parkinson drew applause again later when he asked GOP lawmakers to at least hear ideas from Democrats after many of their bills died before even being reviewed. That applause frustrated Russell who stammered that “we’re trying to do business here…”
When Parkinson said, “it won’t kill us to hear” ideas of Democrats, he drew applause again but Russell seemed to just carry on. However, he didn’t let it go. It chided him enough to issue his warning again a few minutes later.
“Listen, please,” Russell began. “We’re going to conduct the state’s business or we’re going to clear the room, O.K.? That’s your last warning.”
Later in the hearing, Rep. Jody Barrett (R-Dickson) presented a bill that would have allowed those with an enhanced handgun carry permit to carry a handgun on school property. However, he said the bill was not yet ready for votes and asked for it to be removed from the calendar. This was met with yet another round of applause. Russell was done.
“Now, are we going to quieten down and listen or are we going to sit there and clap?” Russell asked the audience members. But he immediately made up his mind. “All right, troopers, let’s go ahead and clear the room.”
Someone asked Russell if they could just remove the half of the crowd “causing trouble.” But Russell said that would be hard to determine and, again, told troopers to “clear the room.” Someone in the audience chided Russell yelling “what a strong man you are.”
The room was cleared in about 10 minutes. Those in audience included Covenant School parents. Katy Dieckhaus, whose child was killed in April shooting, was present according to a tweet from Tennessee Lookout editor Holly McCall.
WKRN reporter Chris O’Brien said Sarah Shoop Neumann, whose child was at the school during the shooting, was also there.
Russell’s decision was blasted by Tennessee Democrats, including Sen. Heidi Campbell (D-Nashville).
House Minority Leader Rep. Karen Camper (D-Memphis) said she was “appalled by what occurred” and issued a lengthy statement.
“Citizens were removed from the room for sitting quietly, and then the entire room was cleared because some people clapped during the meeting. This is outrageous. I cannot believe how petty this was.
“When the Covenant shooting occurred in March, members of this body poured out their hearts to the community and said they cared. Thousands of Tennesseans came to their house — the People’s House — to urge us to do something about senseless gun tragedies. They literally shouted for us to do something.
“Now, months later, we are supposedly here to finally do something to protect our children in this state. And what happens? People are removed from the building that they own as they sit quietly and then clap softly for agreeing with a statement.
“For a committee chairperson to use their position to banish grieving Tennesseans from the committee room is beyond the pale. This needs to be explained as to why people were removed and the room was cleared after citizens took to the time and effort to be present in their government. This is embarrassing.”