By Kasim Ileri
WASHINGTON (AA) – Democrats in the House of Representatives continued a “sit-in” on the floor of the chamber late Wednesday, demanding to be allowed to vote on a gun control bill.
Approximately 30 Democrats began the action earlier in the day, led by Georgia Rep. John Lewis, that grew to more than 100 members a few hours later with lawmakers saying they are committed to stay all night. The House was not in session at the time the protest began.
“My colleagues & I have had enough. We are sitting-in on the House Floor until we get a vote to address gun violence,” tweeted Lewis, a civil rights leader who in the 1960s organized hundreds of sit-ins in the fight for desegregation.
The move comes a little more than a week after a massacre at an Orlando, Florida, nightclub that left 49 victims dead and 53 others wounded.
The sit-in is part of an effort by Democrats to prevent individuals who are on the U.S. no-fly list from purchasing firearms.
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in front of Capitol Hill Wednesday evening to show support for the sit-in while chanting, “No more silence!”
The hashtag #NoBillNoBreak in support of the sit-in became one of the top trending topics on Twitter, which refers to the Democrats’ commitment to continue the action up to and possibly through the congressional recess for the July 4 holiday.
The White House supported the hashtag with a short video of Obama.
“If we are going to raise out kids in a safer, more loving world, we need to speak up for it,” he said in the video.
House Speaker reconvened the chamber late Wednesday and held two separate votes unrelated to guns control.
The Democrats’ move a “publicity stunt” and “it is about trying to get attention,” Ryan told CNN.
Rep. John Larson of Connecticut said all Democrats want is a vote. “We are calling for the simple dignity of a vote,” he said, referring to Republicans’ measure in the House to block gun purchases by suspected terrorists.
“Rise up Democrats, rise up Americans. We will occupy this chamber,” Larson tweeted. “We will no longer be denied a right to vote.”
Larson’s state experienced one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history when 20 school children were killed, along with six adults at an elementary school in 2012.
Republican leaders ordered broadcast television cameras of the chamber turned off, according to media reports.
The demonstration was “an extraordinary step to change the status quo,” according to the White House.
“I think they are showing the kind of frustration and even anger that people around the country have about the inability of the Republican-led Congress to take common-sense steps that would protect the American people,” spokesman Josh Earnest said, adding that what the Democrats are asking for is neither radical nor controversial.
“These are common-sense proposals … that would, in fact, succeed in at least making it harder for individuals who shouldn’t have guns from being able to get their hands on them,” he said.
