In this image from video provided by Rep. Scott Peters, Rep. John Lewis., D-Ga., speaks on the House floor in Washington, Wednesday, June 22, 2016.
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Scenes from inside the chamber were broadcast by House members using their cellphones after broadcast cameras were shut down by Republicans.
Democrats pledged to continue the fight for gun control when the House reconvenes on July 5. But even though Collins’ bill survived, the vote showed it lacked the 60-vote margin usually needed to pass on the Senate floor.
“Those are not easy issues, but we must deal with them”, she said, adding she considers gun control the easiest issue to address immediately.
House Speaker Paul Ryan remained defiant, telling USA Today that the House is not going to allow such stunts to stop lawmakers from carrying out the people’s business.
Almost 100 Democrats took control of the chamber Wednesday, demanding action be taken on gun control reform in the wake of the mass shooting in Orlando, Florida.
Republicans responded by calling the sit-in a “publicity stunt” and a “disgrace”.
In staging a sit-in pushing for a vote on gun control legislation, U.S. House Democrats said they were raising public awareness about what they contend is a crisis of violence. Democrats took a fearless stand, and ethics charges can’t diminish the message that the American people want common sense gun reform.
Lewis said Democrats “made a down payment on ending gun violence” in America, while Rep. Katherine Clark of MA said.
“If you want a stunt, banging the gavel at 3am in the middle of the night, in the heat of the sit-in and getting out of town, that’s a political stunt”, he said referring to Ryan.
The Wisconsin legislator noted that his Democratic colleagues’ bill banning gun sales to suspects on federal terror watch lists failed to get sufficient votes in committee.
Republicans then retook control of the chamber, forced through several unrelated measures, adjourned the House and announced there would be no more votes until after the July 4 national holiday.
DeFazio: “We believe strongly, and as it appears in polling so do the American people, that we should have a system of universal background checks before you can buy a firearm”.
“Give us a vote”.
Approximately 30 Democrats began the protest earlier in the day, led by Georgia Rep. John Lewis, which grew to more than 100 members a few hours later. “This is just one step”. “We’re going to win big”.
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“We’ll see a lot of Republican congressional districts where Republicans won’t vote for [Donald] Trump [for president] and some won’t vote at all”, Ryan said.
