Pops, bumps and blocks — is the Tennessee legislature assaulting each other?

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — It's not clear who hit who first or caused assault in the Tennessee legislature.

House Speaker Cameron Sexton said sanctions weren't out of the realm of possibility for House members, as some have claimed they were assaulted on the House floor, blocked from leaving their seats, and popped in the shoulder despite a security detail. This all happened in a 30-minute spiral before special session ended its tumultuous tenure in this chapter of Tennessee politics.

The first outburst came from Rep. Justin Lafferty, who filmed the moments during the Tennessee Three incident, claimed he was assaulted on the House floor. The House cameras didn't catch any movement or assault in the aisle. This is not the first time Lafferty has had trouble on the House floor. Rep. Justin Jones, D-Nashville, accused him of simple assault by grabbing his phone out of his hand back in April. Jones went to the Metro Nashville Police Department with the claim. It's not clear what happened following that.

Rep. Gloria Johnson, D-Knoxville, posted on Twitter that Rep. Scott Cepicky, R-Culloeka, and Rep. Monty Fritts, R-Kingston, blocked her from leaving her desk on the House floor. She called them bullies and thugs in the tweet.

"I asked multiple times, loudly, and they refused to move so I could get out of the chambers," she wrote.

Johnson spoke to NewsChannel 5 after the House doors shut. She said she had to ask eight to nine times before the men moved.

"They heard me. I think of it that they are cowards and they are bullies," Johnson said. "Gov. Lee brought us here under the guise an extreme order of protection law. It wasn't the best law with a lot of teeth in it, but it was a start. Instead, they have betrayed 80% of Tennesseans who wanted us to do something real to end gun violence. None of that happened. Instead what we saw was bullying members. They revealed themselves as being unable to lead. They are scared to death — cowardly, bullying."

As Johnson was trying to leave the chambers, so was House Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, who claimed that Rep. Justin Pearson, D-Memphis, popped him on the right side. Sexton then changed his language in a meeting with reporters that he was bumped.

Rep. Jones and Pearson were holding up neon pieces of paper and trying to follow Sexton and his security detail.

In a video captured by the Associated Press, it appears that Sexton was bumped into by his security, which then caused Sexton to bump into Pearson. Then Sexton said Pearson bumped his shoulder and pushed him to the left. The House cameras do not show what happened. NewsChannel 5 captured the same from the House gallery.

House Republicans in their press conference with reporters said this was nothing more than tomfoolery on the House floor Tuesday.

"It started with Lafferty getting bumped," Sexton said. "It is what it is. We need to figure out how to calm down but we will see (about sanctions). It's interesting that that happened once again."

House Caucus Leader Jeremy Faison — who had to apologize in recent years for publicly attempting to pants a sports referee at a children's game — said it was a lack of maturity to get in someone's personal space.

"That's a prescription for disaster," Faison, R-Cosby, said. "That's beneath the level of a representative."

Pearson disputes all of that.

"I was pushed by Cameron Sexton and by members of his team," Pearson said outside of the House chambers. "Then he started to scream and yell as if we had done something. Rep. Jones was pushed by Rep. Cepicky as well because we were holding signs about protecting kids and not guns. This is where we are: The authoritarian actions of banning signs is also living with the people with power in this state. They are doing policy violence and physical violence."

Chris Davis and Devin Crawford contributed to this story.