“We have to occupy the floor of the House until there is action”, Democratic Congressman John Lewis, a civil rights icon who marched with Reverend Martin Luther King Jr in the 1960s, said before he and dozens of colleagues sat down on the carpeted well of the chamber. It was the worst shooting in modern US history.
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Over 12 hours has passed in the legendary protest on the Capitol Hill floor started by House Democrats who are hoping to achieve a vote on gun control legislation.
House Democrats are chanting “no bill, no break!” as the Republicans move toward a vote on labor legislation. The state was the scene of a mass shooting last June in which a white gunman is accused of shooting and killing nine black parishioners inside a church in Charleston. “What is so scary about having a vote?”
As scores of Democrats staged a sit-in on the House floor to force a vote on gun control measures, Louisiana Republicans derided their tactic Wednesday as misguided.
So did former President Bill Clinton and President Barack Obama who in a Tweet thanked Lewis for “leading on gun violence where we need it most”.
By midafternoon, the protest was still going on. Saying they don’t control the cameras in the House chamber, C-Span has been airing video from Facebook and Periscope. Those votes failed on Monday night.
Scott said the House Republican leadership has blocked votes 13 times on bipartisan legislation that says people on the no-fly list because of suspected links to terror groups should not be allowed to buy guns. Susan Collins, R-Maine, is seeking.
On social media, Moulton said the least Congress could do was vote on gun reform measures that most Americans support. Pictures on various news sites showed Lewis and others sitting on the house floor.
Both Senators from MA expressed support for the House protest. Sen.
Clark, in blue, stood beside Lewis and then joined him on the floor as part of the sit-in. The House was not in session at the time.
Ryan dismissed the protest as “nothing more than a publicity stunt”, and made clear the House would not vote on any legislation that he said would “take away a citizen’s constitutional rights without due process”.
An impromptu demonstration began outside the House on the grounds of the Capitol as supporters were addressed by the Democratic members of Congress making short speeches and calling for public support for their efforts.
C-SPAN accepts no government money, but uses cameras set up by Congress to fulfill its mission to televise House and Senate sessions. They’re run on authorization by legislative leaders.
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“How many more mothers, how many more fathers have to share tears of grief before we decide to do anything?” he asked.
