Nashville sends ousted state Rep. Justin Jones back to legislature

The Nashville Metropolitan Council on Monday reappointed former Democratic state Rep. Justin Jones to District 52 in the Tennessee House after Republicans in the legislature removed him days prior over his conduct during a gun control protest.

The council members voted unanimously, 36-0, to return Jones to his seat, CNN reported. The state legislature voted 72-25 to remove him last week. He will serve as an interim representative.

Jones, along with former state Rep. Justin Pearson of Memphis and still-Rep. Gloria Johnson of Knoxville, reached the podium of the lower chamber without permission during a recent session and encouraged gun control demonstrators outside the building. Lawmakers failed to oust Johnson by a single vote.

Prior to his ouster, Jones warned Republicans that their effort to remove him would backfire, saying "[y]our overreaction, your flexing of false power has awakened a generation of people who will let you know that your time is up."

The trio's actions and those of the demonstrators followed a mass shooting in Nashville during which a transgender individual killed three students and three faculty members at a Christian school.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on Twitter.