In the aftermath of the late-March mass shooting at a private Christian school in Nashville, Tennessee, anti-Second Amendment protesters overran the floor of the state legislature and were joined by three Democratic legislators in obstructing official proceedings to demand action on gun control -- an act that was dubbed a treasonous move of "insurrection" just two years ago.
Two of those three Democrats were expelled from the legislature -- though they have since returned -- and now the White House has announced that all three have been invited to Washington D.C. to meet with President Joe Biden, the Washington Examiner reported.
At the same time, however, there is no invitation from Biden's White House for a similar visit with the families of the victims, three of whom were innocent children, at that Christian school who were mercilessly gunned down in a murderous rampage by the disturbed adult female shooter who identified as a transgender male.
The Examiner reported that the so-called "Tennessee Three" -- Democratic State Reps. Justin Jones, Justin Pearson, and Gloria Johnson -- faced repercussions, including expulsion for Jones and Pearson, for violating the legislature's rules and not only joining but leading anti-gun protesters who took over the Capitol building and brought the debate over ongoing legislative business to a halt with their uncompromising demands for more strict gun control laws.
At the time of that incident, which occurred about a week after the tragic shooting at the Covenant school in Nashville, President Biden's White House issued a statement to denounce the expulsions as "shocking, undemocratic, and without precedent."
That statement dubiously referred to the disruptive actions as a "peaceful protest" -- recall that disrupting legislative actions was an "insurrection" in 2021 -- and proclaimed with a lack of self-awareness and disregard for reality that "Rather than debating the merits of the issue, these Republican lawmakers have chosen to punish, silence, and expel duly-elected representatives of the people of Tennessee."
Fast-forward about two weeks to Wednesday's press briefing, in which White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre made an announcement about the so-called "Tennessee Three" before taking questions from reporters, and said, "I’m pleased to share that the President looks forward to welcoming Tennessee State Representative Justin Jones, Justin Pearson, and Gloria Johnson to the White House this coming Monday."
"Earlier this month, the President spoke to them by phone after they were subjugated to expulsion votes in the Tennessee statehouse for peacefully protesting in support of stronger gun safety laws following the shooting at Covenant School in Nashville," she continued.
"During that call, the President thanked them for their leadership in seeking to ban assault weap- -- weapons and standing up for the democratic values," Jean-Pierre said. "And the three lawmakers thanked the President for his leadership on gun safety and for spotlighting the undemocratic and unprecedented attacks on them in the Tennessee statehouse."
Later, Jean-Pierre was asked by a reporter why it was so "important" for Biden to meet personally with the Tennessee lawmakers and what he hoped to gain from the meeting.
The press secretary responded by emphasizing the president's focus on "gun reform" and passing another "assault weapons ban" and how "proud" and "appreciative" he was of the actions taken by the three legislators in that regard.
Sometime later, another reporter circled back to that topic and asked about the invitation that Biden extended to the three Democrats who protested -- Jean-Pierre swiftly interjected, "Peace- -- peacefully protested" -- and then asked, "Have any of the victims or the victims’ families been invited to the White House?"
The press secretary replied, "I don’t have anything to read out to you about any invite."
When pressed "Why," she simply reiterated, "I just don’t have anything at this time to read out to you -- any invite," and then launched into a predictable spiel about the president's commitment to banning so-called "assault weapons" and "weapons of war."
