KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Days after surviving an expulsion effort in the state House, Rep. Gloria Johnson welcomed word Tuesday that Gov. Bill Lee had signed an executive order requiring more stringent recording of background information on people who purchase firearms.
But she said she wants to read it closely to ensure it actually will make a difference. And she said that alone is far from enough to address gun violence.
"This is absolutely something we have been asking for -- for some time," Johnson told WBIR. "He's said he's asked the Legislature to pass some type of red flag law, but it's going to have to be something that has to have teeth. I hope it's not some watered-down version that really doesn't have teeth. And I hope that we are serious about that. And that we can come to the table and discuss what that will look like."
For example, the Knoxville Democrat said, she's long sought measure to close loopholes on private firearm sales.
Lee announced Tuesday afternoon he'd signed an executive order -- his 100th in office -- that requires key data such as a person's criminal record or "court mental health information" be promptly entered into the Tennessee Instant Check System, or TICS, or provided to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation within 72 hours of receipt of the information.
The intent is to prevent the wrong people -- "dangerous" people, as the order says -- from being able to acquire a firearm through the formal, traditional sales process.
The order goes on to direct that the Administrative Office of the Courts in Nashville must ensure the circuit, chancery and general sessions courts "accurately, completely and timely" submit relevant information on defendants into either the TBI's FlexCheck database or straight to the TBI for data preservation.
Lee also wants the TBI to look at the current TICS to see if any part of the information submission process needs to be fixed. It's got 60 days to do that and submit a report.
Lee also said he wanted state lawmakers to come up with "thoughtful, practical measures" that ensure those who are a threat to themselves or others can't go out and buy weapons, such as the person who attacked a Nashville church school March 27, killing six including three 9-year-olds. Such measures are often referred to as red flag laws.
Tennessee currently lacks a red flag law.
Last week, Johnson survived by a single vote an effort by Tennessee House Republicans -- including members of her own Knox County delegation -- to oust her after she took part in a brief protest on the House floor over gun violence and access to guns.
House Republicans expelled her colleagues Justin Jones of Nashville and Justin Pearson of Memphis, both Democrats. But Jones promptly was reinstated Monday and Pearson is expected to be reinstated Wednesday in Shelby County.
Johnson was present Monday in Nashville when the Metro Council unanimously voted to send him back to the state House. She told WBIR on Tuesday she planned to travel to Memphis for the commission vote on Pearson.
Johnson, who got into politics as an organizer for then-presidential candidate Barack Obama in the late 2000s, said the protest by the "Tennessee Three" and the national uproar that followed has given new momentum to efforts to reduce gun violence, especially shootings that kill and wound children. She vowed to keep pushing for change.
Beefing up schools with hardware and more security personnel doesn't fix the problem, she said. More must be done to address the root of the problem.
"Let's talk seriously about what is causing this," she said. "You know, when you can say, Oh, we'll get more mental health counselors in school. Well, you know what, they keep putting little Band-Aids and adding a smidge more and a smidge more, when in reality 10 years ago, we could have expanded Medicaid, and that would have given hundreds of thousands of Tennesseans access to care -- and when you have health care, you have mental health care.
"Imagine all the people that could be in treatment right now but aren't because we have refused to expand Medicaid."
The General Assembly is rapidly coming to the time when they traditionally stop and go home. Johnson said, however, that the Legislature can keep working and adopt legislation that curtails easy or casual access to weapons.
Lawmakers can suspend rules to speed up the legislative process, she said.
"But we need to get busy and pass the ones that will save lives. And we can do that."
The expulsion of Jones and Pearson and attempt to toss Johnson drew national and international attention -- from TV networks to major national newspapers to social media platforms to comedy shows such as "Saturday Night Live."
"You would think that they (legislators) would start paying attention and realize that the eyes of the entire country were on them," Johnson said.
She said she was pleased to see after the episode blew up that Republican leaders began allowing more debate on bills that otherwise would be rapidly passed through committees with no debate or discussion. Republicans far outnumber Democrats in the Tennessee House and Senate.
"It's nice to have a little sunlight shown so that we can allow debate and discussion for these bills that are getting passed with sometimes five minutes, maybe 50 minutes of discussion, but rarely more than that," Johnson said.
After Johnson, Jones and Pearson stood up and protested in the House, Johnson was stripped of her committee memberships. Johnson has since been reinstated to the Criminal Justice, Education Instruction, and the Insurance Committees, according to Doug Kufner, communications director for House Speaker Cameron Sexton.
On Monday, Jones called on Sexton to resign as speaker. Johnson said Tuesday she agreed with Jones.
Sexton, who has greater ambitions in state politics, almost certainly won't do that.
Johnson said she wasn't surprised her local Republican colleagues -- Dave Wright, Justin Lafferty, Elaine Davis, Michele Carringer and Jason Zachary -- supported her expulsion. She said she was more surprised at the Republicans who went against their party and declined to support the move.
A handful of Republicans voted against ouster, enabling her to remain by a single vote.
Johnson said she's gotten "overwhelming support" from constituents in her 90th House District. Last year, despite Republican efforts to change her district and make her more vulnerable to a challenger, she won by 58 percent, her highest margin yet.
In the Fourth and Gill neighborhood in North Knoxville, she said her yard signs have suddenly popped up all over the place.
"People all over the district are putting their yard signs out there," she said. "And people are going, OK, Gloria, we're running out of your signs. They say it looks like there's an election on because my constituents are putting their signs out in the yard."
