House Speaker Paul Ryan on Thursday reacted to the Democratic sit-in on the floor of the House of Representatives over gun control by saying: “I don’t think this should be a very proud moment for democracy or the people who staged these stunts”.
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After a day of protesting legislative inaction on gun control, it seems that the Democratic members of the House of Representatives are calling it quits with their sit-in.
Omar Mateen, the shooter who killed 49 people with a semi-automatic rifle at an Orlando nightclub, was previously on the watch list but not at the time he purchased the guns used in the shooting.
Republicans have pointed to a series of fundraising emails sent by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee during the sit-in as proof that the demonstration is purely political.
The two sides almost came to blows overnight after Texas Republican Louie Gohmert approached the Democrats and shouted: “Radical Islam!”.
Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., who had participated in the civil rights sit-ins in the South in the 1960s, said Democrats had “crossed one bridge”. The House speaker called the protest a “publicity stunt” that threatened American Democracy.
Pelosi did not say exactly what the Democrats would do when the House is called back in session July 5. He said that in order to conduct the daily security sweep, he went to the House and said to the Democrats, “I’d ask that you clear the floor while that happens”. “Rise up Democrats, rise up Americans”, Larson said. But according to CNN, Pelosi said the sit-in would continue “until hell freezes over”.
Democrats took turns delivering speeches, often promising not to back down in their drive to curb firearm violence. It adds that some 16 lawmakers remained on the House floor as dawn broke Thursday.
But Lewis described the sit-in as just the beginning as he and others ended the protest. Republicans voted against these and other measures related to additional gun control laws earlier this week. C-Span is continuing its live coverage through social media. He argued that if Democrats wanted to bring the legislation to the floor, they could try through a discharge position but that any bill has no chance of passage in the Senate.
“You know, the Republican leadership has turned off C-SPAN”, Sen.
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As of 9 a.m. Thursday, Facebook Live videos from 19 members of the U.S. House of Representatives had been viewed more than 3 million times. The protest captured America’s attention and sparked the hashtag #NoBillNoBreak which resulted in thousands of tweets supporting the protest.
