CNN Newsroom: Rep. Jason Powell (D-TN) Discussed About His Reaction On What's Happening In Memphis

Interview

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Hi. I'm very excited. This is a movement that has - is underway. I'm so excited to have my colleague Justin J. Pearson back. I already have my colleague here from Nashville. Justin Jones back with us.

I personally have been affected by gun violence. This hit very close to home. I am a father. I have a son who was in third grade. He's nine years old. I was at my son's school, reading to his class the morning that this shooting happened at Covenant School.

The little boy that was murdered is a member and was on the team, The Reds (ph), in the Creek (ph) Hall Little League where my son plays. That's how close this hits to home. And I am so energized and excited, hopeful that we are going to finally tackle this issue of gun violence in the State of Tennessee.

But the excitement today is about Rep. Pearson, Rep. Jones coming back, fighting against this undemocratic process that we saw on the State of Tennessee where they were expelled for office. It was a shame, but the people have spoken, the county commission in Shelby County did the right thing today. The people of Nashville and our city council did the right thing. We have reappointed our colleagues back and we are going to continue on this movement continue to fight for true gun reform and stop gun violence in the United States of America and make the starting point here in Nashville and in Tennessee.

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Well, we need to go very far. There are so many different laws that we need to tackle. Temporary transfer is a important thing that we need to look at. I'm hopeful that we can pass some of these laws. But just several years ago, I myself tried to pass a law that would have taken away guns from people that showed up on the no fly list.

These are some of those dangerous possible individuals out there and this was when we still had permits. That law failed. My attempt to do that failed. Now we have no permits for these handguns in the State of Tennessee. We need to make sure that we take true action, real gun reform. That's what people want.

We need to make real change and pursue every possible law that we can.

I'm hopeful that our Governor and others will listen and create true reform. We've heard this in the past, but clearly the people have spoken. People continue to show up by the thousands at our state capitol, not just in our state capitol, but across Tennessee to demand true gun reform and that's what we must have.

I mean, this issue goes back. I was a student in college in Colorado when Columbine happened. One of my - I played college football - one of my teammates there, his - one of his family members and multiple friends had family members at Columbine. And that was a mass shooting that dates back to 25 years ago and we are still dealing with this issue.

Let's tackle true gun reform, make Nashville, Tennessee the starting place that will create a wave across the nation. That's what you're saying. And that's why so many people are galvanized and excited and hopeful and behind, myself, Rep. Jones, Rep. Pearson, Rep. Johnson. We are going to be the launching point for true gun violence reform across this country.

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