Tenn. State Rep. Justin Pearson’s confrontation with Republican over gun violence gets personal: ‘Learn to shut up!’

Emotions were high at the Tennessee State Capitol on Wednesday as State Rep. Justin J. Pearson confronted a Republican colleague during a legislative hearing on gun control.

Pearson, a longtime gun reform advocate who, along with fellow Rep. Justin Jones, was infamously expelled by Republicans for protesting against gun violence on the House floor, returned to the capitol building after losing his brother to gun suicide to yet again advocate for his legislation to end permitless-carry gun laws in Tennessee.

“We have the power to do something about the gun violence epidemic, and we don’t just have to offer some empty thoughts and prayers–we can do something,” Pearson said during the House Subcommittee on Criminal Justice hearing. However, things took a turn when Republican Rep. Andrew Farmer personally called out Pearson.

“We have been here this year working, during committee, during session, voting on bills…and I know you may have some things going on, but you have not,” Farmer said to Pearson, one of the youngest elected to the Tennessee State House of Representatives. “So I don’t think it’s fair for you to come in front of this committee and lecture us on hard work and convictions and hard work for our committee.”

The Republican continued, “I understand where you’re at and what you’re doing and why, but the end of the day, we’ve been here working, we’ve been on a House floor voting on bills. We’ve taken the tough questions, we’ve taken the tough votes, and we’re doing it.”

In response, Pearson said he was “incensed” by Farmer’s remarks, explaining that he had been absent from the state capitol in recent months because his brother, Timphrance Pearson, died by gun suicide in December 2024.

“They make me very, very angry, not just because of the lack of regard, but the disrespect and the same denigrating tone that you used on the state House floor when the vote to expel me happened. It’s disrespectful, it’s unbecoming, and it’s beneath the standard of a person who’s supposed to represent in the Tennessee House of Representatives,” said Pearson.

In 2023, Pearson and Jones became national symbols for gun violence prevention and racial justice after their majority white Republican colleagues voted to expel them from their seats in an unusual move in the state House of Representatives. The expulsions were swiftly condemned (including by then-President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris) across the country as an attempt to undemocratically silence two young Black voices in a politically deep-red state. Though Pearson and Jones were both elected to return to their seats, they say they have continued to endure racist microaggressions and disrespect from their Republican colleagues.

“It is a pathetic excuse for you to not answer the question of why we are doing nothing about the gun violence epidemic, then to personally attack me,” Pearson said on Wednesday. The Memphis lawmaker then explained that during his time away from the state capital, he not only buried his brother but also took care of his family during their time of deep grief.

“It shattered my family like gun violence has shattered so many families. Shattered my nephews’ lives, my mother, my father, my other brothers who are remaining,” said Pearson, who shared, “I went to all of my nephews’ schools. I met with their principals and their teachers to ensure that they are OK…made sure that they had grief counseling and that they’re seeing a psychiatrist.”

Pearson continued, “That’s what I’ve been doing. And while you’re talking about hard work, you need to realize that our job is not just in this state house with these marble floors. Our jobs are on the streets and in the communities that we serve.”

The 30-year-old Tennessee lawmaker said that instead of passing legislation to help communities, Farmer and other Republicans have been enacting laws that harm transgender children, poor Tennesseans, and others who are “disenfranchised.”

Pearson eventually walked over to Farmer, pointing at him while being held back by others. “Don’t you ever f—king disrespect me and my family!” said Pearson.

During his remarks on Wednesday, Pearson told Farmer that if he couldn’t understand his passion for gun violence prevention and other critical issues harming communities, then he should simply “Learn to shut up.”