All three of North Carolina’s U.S. House Democrats – Price, Alma Adams and G.K. Butterfield – participated in the nearly 26-hour sit-in on the House floor, calling for the Republican leadership to allow a vote on preventing suspected terrorists from buying guns.
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Ryan, who dismissed the protest as a “publicity stunt”, refused to allow votes on two bills demanded by Democrats: one to expand background checks and another that prevents people on terror watch lists and no-fly lists from buying guns. Let the American people hear the debate about this and then we’ll vote.
Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., ended the daylong protest surrounded by his Democratic colleagues. He adjourned the House until July 5 without a vote on either bill.
DeFazio says the mood on the floor was intense.
And even with the sit-in’s end Thursday afternoon – without action on gun control – the fight over the issue isn’t over, Democrats say.
“House Republicans may have cut the cameras, but they can’t cut off our voices”, Clinton said in a tweet.
“We’re going to win”, he said.
The Republican move was an effort to terminate a protest that began Wednesday morning in reaction to the massacre in Orlando when Democrats took over the House floor and tried to force votes on gun control.
Several Democratic senators crossed the Capitol on Wednesday to join protesters, including Senators Elizabeth Warren, Tim Kaine and Cory Booker, all mentioned as potential running mates for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, who voiced her support on Twitter.
In the early hours of the protest, Ryan had quickly called the chamber into recess.
The mere introduction Friday of a proposal backed by five Republicans and four Democrats highlights the post-Orlando, election-year pressures some lawmakers feel for action. “Why they would I don’t know, but we’re just saying ‘give the vote a shot”.
“This is different, this is directly interrupting the House”, says DiSalvo, “They are definitely getting more attention, [it’s] more controversial”.
No one expects lawmakers to broadly tighten gun curbs, even after the June 12 Orlando attack that left 49 dead, the worst mass-shooting in modern US history.
But after more than 20 hours of protest, the Democrats were “drained and dwindling”, the news service writes, “some draped in blankets and toting pillows”.
It was the first time the public broadcaster aired live social media footage from the House floor – where taking pictures and video is prohibited. Republican politicians do not recognise proliferation of guns as a problem.
Democrats chanted and shouted over Speaker Paul Ryan as he gaveled the House into session and tried to bring order.
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Collins, a ME lawmaker, wants to forbid gun sales to anyone on the US government’s “No Fly List” for terrorism suspects or the “Selectee List” of people who receive extra security screening at airports.
