About 40 House Democrats began a “sit-in” on the House floor around 11:30 a.m. Wednesday morning, vowing to remain there until their colleagues agree to a vote on a gun control measure that would stop firearms sales to those on the “no fly” list.
The sit-in is the latest Democratic protest of the lack of congressional action on gun control after the Orlando massacre, which claimed 49 lives and wounded 53 in the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history. It follows a nearly 14-hour-long filibuster waged by Senate Democrats last week for a vote on a nearly identical measure. That vote, along with votes on three similar gun control measures, failed Monday in the Senate.
“We have lost hundreds and thousands of people to gun violence,” said Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, who led the sit-in. “And what has this body done? Mr. Speaker, nothing, not one thing,” Lewis shouted. “Give us a vote!”
“We implore, we ask our colleagues... to provide us with the simple dignity that every American is calling for, a vote,” Rep. John Larson of Connecticut, who joined the sit-in on the House floor.
Around noon, the House tried to gavel back into business, but House Democrats would not leave the chamber well. Several Democrats began chanting “no bill, no break” as Rep. Ted Poe, acting as Speaker pro tempore, called the House into recess because the chamber was not in order.
Several House Democrats tweeted photos of the ongoing sit-in even after the chamber’s video feed was shut off when recess began. The photos showed several Democrats literally sitting down on the House floor near the podium at the front of the chamber, and Rep. Scott Peters of California began streaming video of the ongoing sit-in via Periscope.