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Tennessee's Republican-led House voted Thursday to expel state Representative Justin Jones, one of three Democratic lawmakers who staged demonstrations on the House floor last week to call for gun control.

Expulsion proceedings for the other two lawmakers, state Representatives Gloria Johnson and Justin Pearson, are ongoing.

House Speaker Cameron Sexton stripped the three lawmakers of their committee assignments and placed the trio's expulsion up for a vote after Jones got into a scuffle with a fellow lawmaker and all three encouraged raucous protesters in the House chambers last week.

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Meanwhile, Sexton rejected claims that he and other Tennessee Republicans are silencing the lawmakers.

"They speak on bills more than anybody. They speak in committees more than anybody. They've had the same opportunities and they're held to the same rules and standards as all other members in the House body, but what they did had nothing to do with the protests that went on inside or outside the chamber," Sexton said. "It was about their actions inside the chamber and what they did to disrupt the proceedings."

"When they came off the House floor, they asked their caucus if they were going to be arrested," he said. "When you ask someone if you're going to be arrested, then you know that you've done something very wrong."

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