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You Can’t Expel Hope

Episode Description

Tennessee Rep. Justin J. Pearson and Moms Demand Action Tennessee Chapter Leader Barbara Esteves-Moore join Movement Builders to talk about their work to save lives in a state with one of the highest rates of gun deaths in the country. Barbara shares more about her chapter’s work with judges across the state to keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers, and Rep. Pearson talks about his journey to public office and the bills he’s working on in the state legislature. For both of these gun violence prevention advocates, the fight is personal. In the wake of the horrific mass shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville on March 27, 2023, Rep. Pearson and two other Tennessee Democrats joined thousands of people, including Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action volunteers, in protesting Republican lawmakers’ inaction on gun safety legislation. Known as the “Tennessee Three,” Reps. Pearson, Justin Jones and Gloria Johnson spoke truth to power, and for their role in the protest, Reps. Jones and Pearson were expelled from the legislature before being re-elected by voters soon after and continuing their fight to save lives.