In the spirit of Andy Goodman and the civil rights movement, John Lewis is leading a commendable sit-in for gun control – acknowledging Orlando and Sandy Hook – on the floor of the Billionaire’s “House.” Lewis announces a long sit-in. He isn’t going home…
On this issue and many others, it is time for the American people to fight back. Mass nonviolent civil disobedience in Washington and all over the country might force politicians to abandon vast unjust wars abroad, militarism (very hard…), and to acknowledge the fight for $15. This is a new time, and what John Lewis and others are doing right now, is promising.
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NBC
Spirit of History’: House Democrats Hold Sit-In on Gun Control
by LUKE RUSSERT, ALEX MOE, HALIMAH ABDULLAH and CORKY SIEMASZKO
Georgia congressman John Lewis deployed a strategy from his days as a civil rights activist and the viral nature of social media to stage a dramatic sit-in Wednesday on the House floor with his fellow Democrats to force a vote on gun control.
“Sometimes you have to do something out of the ordinary, sometimes you have to make a way out of no way,” said Lewis, one of the last living icons of civil disobedience during the civil rights movement. “There comes a time when you have to say something, when you have to make a little noise, when you have to move your feet. This is the time. Now is the time to get in the way. The time to act is now. We will be silent no more.”
He and roughly 40 fellow House Democrats vowed “to occupy the floor of the House until there is action.”
They stood only briefly to recite the Pledge of Allegiance as a couple dozen visitors in the gallery looked on.
When Lewis finished urging his colleagues to “occupy” the floor, the other Democrats began chanting: “I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired!” and “No bill, no break!”
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Democrats Stage Sit-In on House Floor for Gun Legislation 2:01
Lewis later told NBC News that “sometimes you are moved by history.”
It is unusual for members to disrupt the functioning of the House to this degree.
If members do not leave the floor and no compromise is reached, it is largely up to Speaker Paul Ryan to decide whether to use the authority of the House to seek to clear the floor and/or sanction members, or to keep the House in recess and wait out the issue.
The protest is not being televised because the House has not formally gaveled into session.
So Rep. Scott Peters, D-California, has been using the video streaming app, Periscope, to share footage of the sit-in. C-Span has been broadcasting Peters’ video feed.
House members took to social media to lodge their protests using the hashtags #NoBillNoBreak, #NOMORESILENCE and #goodtrouble.
I’m on the House floor with @repjohnlewis & Dems staging a sit-in to demand action on commonsense gun legislation
Outside, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi made sure the rest of the country knew about what was going on inside the chamber with a hastily-arranged
press conference on the Capitol steps .
“Once again we are fighting an uphill fight to bring legislation to the floor,” Pelosi said. “We truly believe that if there was a vote, we would win the vote.”
The merging of old school protest movement tactics such as sit-ins and speeches and new school social media protests helped ensure that the House Democrats’ revolution on gun policy reform was indeed televised.
The move led by Lewis, who was jailed and repeatedly beaten back in the 1960s when he helped lead the battle for equal rights for African-Americans, took the Republican leadership by surprise.
And it came after Lewis wrote House Speaker Paul Ryan a letter demanding that he keep the House in session instead of going into recess so there could more debate on gun control legislation in the wake of the Orlando massacre.
“As the worst mass shooting in our nation’s history has underscored, our country cannot afford to stand by while this Congress continues to be paralyzed by politics,” Lewis wrote.
The House sit-in came on the heels of a dramatic showdown over gun policy Monday in the Senate.
Four gun policy measures failed to pass the 60-vote threshold to move forward in the Senate. The votes came in the wake of the deadly shooting spree in a gay nightclub in Orlando — the nation’s worst mass shooting in modern history — and a subsequent 15-hour filibuster by Senate Democrats who demanded action on gun control.
The four amendments — two filed by Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein of California, and Chris Murphy of Connecticut, and two other, less restrictive measures filed by Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and John Cornyn, R-Texas — addressed background checks of prospective gun buyers and the sale of guns and explosives to people on terrorist watch lists.
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Sen. Murphy on House Dems sit-in 2:21
Murphy, who led last week’s 15-hour filibuster by Senate Democrats who demanded action on gun control, applauded the House’s moves.
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.” Vice President Joe Biden called Lewis ” the keeper of the nation’s conscience at times of challenge and controversy.”
As the day wore on, the gallery seats began to fill as curious onlookers watched the impassioned speeches. Care packages with snacks and letters from supporters began pouring in for the lawmakers.
Democratic Senators such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, and Sen. Mark Warner. D-Virginia, joined their House colleagues as did former members of Congress. The lawmakers, some of them wiping away tears, shared stories of constituents killed as a result of gun violence.
Obama Tweets Support For Democratic Sit-In and John Lewis Loves It
by Lindsey Ellefson | 2:55 pm, June 22nd, 2016
In spite of Republicans shutting off the CSPAN access to it, there has been a sit-in happening in the House all day as Democrats demand a vote on a measure that would stop people on the no-fly list from buying guns.
The effort is being led by Rep. John Lewis, a major player from the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s who knows a thing or two about sit-ins. President Barack Obama sent him an encouraging tweet today in a show of support.
Thank you John Lewis for leading on gun violence where we need it most. twitter.com/repjohnlewis/s…
He later went on CNN, where he said he appreciated the president’s good will.
See here: http://www.mediaite.com/online/obama-tweets-support-for-democratic-sit-in-and-john-lewis-loves-it/
Watch above to see Lewis tell Wolf Blitzer how long he and the rest of the Democrats plan to continue the sit-in.