With little legislative progress — and low hopes of the gun safety reforms that they want — demonstrators at the state capitol are getting frustrated.
On Thursday morning, the Senate floor session adjourned until 4 p.m. Monday, extending the special session without taking up any new legislation. As the gavel fell, people looking on from the galleries started booing and yelling at the lawmakers below.
“Do your jobs,” one woman shouted.
“Give me back your per diems,” yelled another, referencing the daily payments lawmakers receive. Costs for the special legislative session — including per diems — are estimated at 58,000 dollars per day.
Rose Gilbert WPLN News Rep. Justin J. Pearson joins pro-gun reform demonstrators.
The galleries emptied out into the hallways. Demonstrators — accompanied by Rep. Justin J. Pearson, D-Memphis — followed representatives to the elevators, chanting “protect guns, not kids!” as they went.
While state troopers kept the doors to the House floor clear, demonstrators lingered outside, yelling “Whose house? Our House!” and singing “This Little Light Of Mine.”
The protests in the galleries continued ahead of the afternoon’s floor session in the House, which was pushed back twice.
Public observers, many holding signs (which are now permitted following a judge’s order), sang and chanted as lawmakers filed in. Some passed out water to soothe tired voices and told people to clap if their throats were too sore to sing.
“We’re going to be doing this for awhile,” said one woman as she led the crowd in a rendition of “The People Gonna Rise Like Water.”
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