California Democrats among dozens of lawmakers staging sit-in demanding gun vote

Fed up with Republican inaction on gun control, House Democrats, including nearly three dozen from California, shut down business as usual Wednesday with an old-fashioned, if highly unusual, sit-in that forced live television coverage of the chamber off the air and sent GOP leaders scrambling for cover.

The scene, including chants of “No bill, no break!” was like nothing that has occurred in Congress in recent years, more reminiscent of the civil-rights battles of the 1960s than today’s often predictably scripted debates.

But after the Orlando, Fla., mass shooting – and others in San Bernardino and Newtown, Conn. – along with the Senate’s failure to advance gun ownership restrictions earlier in the week, Democrats said they’d had enough.

Shortly after the House gaveled in for a routine day of legislating, Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) strode into the chamber, stood at a podium and called on his colleagues to join him. Within moments, about two dozen lawmakers gathered around the lectern as he spoke.

Then many sat, legs crossed, on the chamber’s blue-carpeted floor. By midafternoon, scores more had arrived to show their support, vowing to stay until they received a vote on gun-control legislation.

“I wondered, what would bring this body to take action?” thundered Lewis, who as a young man marched with Martin Luther King Jr. “What is right, what is just for the people of this country?... They have lost hundreds and thousands of innocent people to gun violence. What has this body done? Nothing. Not one thing.”

Republicans, who control the House majority, declared the proceedings out of order and quickly called a recess, which automatically turned off the cameras that usually provide live coverage to C-SPAN.

But it hardly mattered. Lawmakers took to social media, tweeting and updating their status from the floor. San Diego Democratic Rep. Scott Peters posted live Periscope video that C-SPAN eventually began broadcasting.

“So why not turn on the House cameras?” Peters tweeted. “What is @PaulRyanPress afraid of?”

“The cameras may have been shut down, but we’re still here,” tweeted Rep. Tony Cardenas (D-Los Angeles).

“You are right, Mr. Speaker. The House is not in order. We will not be in order until you schedule a vote. #NoMoreSilence,” tweeted Rep. Janice Hahn (D-Los Angeles).

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, who had spent the morning rolling out the latest flank of his “Better Way” agenda – ideas for replacing President Obama’s healthcare law – had no immediate comment.

Protests in Congress can take different forms, such as the filibuster in the Senate and procedural votes in the House. During the 2008 summer recess, House Republicans held a similar protest against Democrats’ refusal to vote on GOP energy bills they believed would lower skyrocketing gas prices. During the 1995 federal government shutdown, Democrats refused to leave until services were restored after Republicans recessed.

House GOP officials called Wednesday’s protest a “Democratic publicity stunt” and noted that Democrats, when they controlled the House in 2008, they also shut off the cameras.

“It’s worth noting that when House Democrats were in the majority, they not only shut off the cameras, they actually shut off the lights,’’ said a House GOP leadership aide who did not want to be identifed.

Democrats face long odds of passing new gun restrictions with both the House and Senate controlled by Republicans, and the National Rifle Assn. opposed to most of the bills that have been proposed.

Earlier this week, the Senate rejected four proposals to restrict gun purchases – including one that would have prevented terror suspects like Orlando shooter Omar Mateen from buying guns, and another that would require background checks for all gun sales, even informal purchases.

Despite a 15-hour filibuster led by Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), votes fell largely along party lines.

A compromise bipartisan proposal introduced by Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and backed by leading Democrats has not been scheduled for a vote.

With the House scheduled to recess Friday for the long Independence Day holiday break, Democrats were anxious to press for action.

Polls show most Americans favor new gun restrictions, but opinions become more divided along party lines with Republicans largely believing guns laws are adequate.

Wednesday’s sit-in began around 11:30 a.m. Shortly after noon, the Republican presiding officer gaveled the chamber back into session and proceeded with the morning prayer, but the protest continued and another recess was called.

Several senators, including Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, walked across the Capitol to join their peers in the House, as lawmakers took turns in the chamber sharing personal stories from their own lives, and their congressional districts, of those lost to gun violence.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco, the Democratic leader, led supporters and activists to the steps of the Capitol for a press conference. She admitted Democrats are fighting an “uphill battle” in trying to pass legislation but assured the crowd there is bipartisan support for this legislation.

“People are tired of moments of silence,” Pelosi told reporters, saying a “spark” has happened with the Orlando shooting and lawmakers are determined and emboldened. “It’s not going to go away until we get reasonable legislation.”

Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) talked about the death of his son, who was shot and killed in 1999. Rush described feeling helpless after his son died.

“I never will forget the primal scream of my son’s mother,” Rush said on the Capitol steps.

Rep. Elizabeth Esty (D-Conn.) said she, too, remembered the “primal screams” of family members at a firehouse after the Sandy Hook shootings in Newtown, Conn.

“Make no mistake,” said Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign to End Gun Violence. “We’re putting you on notice. We’re not going away.”

Gun-control advocates praised the House Democrats for forcing attention on the issue.

“As Dr. King used to say, ‘The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice,’” said Lucy McBath, faith and outreach leader for Everytown for Gun Safety, the mother of a teenager slain by gun violence. “We are seeing the arc bend before our very eyes—Americans demand that we do more to disarm hate.”

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Jill Ornitz in Washington and Christine Mai-Duc in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

For more on California politics, follow @cmaiduc and @sarahdwire

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