Civil Rights Champion John Lewis leads House Democrats in gun-control sit-in

U.S. Congressman John Lewis last night led congressional Democrats in an all all-night sit-in into Thursday morning to push for gun control legislation after the gay nightclub massacre in Orlando, Florida.

Lewis, a veteran civil rights leader who spoke alongside Martin Luther King Jr., at the Washington March of 1963, asked what Congress has done, then answered his own question: “Nothing. We have turned a deaf ear to the blood of innocents. We are blind to a crisis. Where is our courage?”

“Today we have come a distance. We have made some progress,” he said. “We have crossed one bridge but we have other bridges to cross. And when we come back in July, we will start all over again. The American people, they want us to act, they want us to do something,” he added.

After a raucous day that nearly erupted into a fistfight, the majority Republicans retook control of the House in the predawn hours on Thursday, adjourned the chamber after forcing through several unrelated measures and said there would be no more votes until after the July 4 holiday. The protesting Democrats stayed behind and vowed to continue their protest.

Scores of Democrats had flooded the House floor at 11:25 a.m. on Wednesday and still occupied it as of Thursday morning. They sat in the aisles, often chanting and singing, and brought business to a halt, demanding Republican leaders allow a vote on gun-related legislation after the June 12 shooting in which a gunman killed 49 people.

“We are going to hold the floor of the House of Representatives … until we can get the majority to do their jobs and give us a vote,” Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz told CBS “This Morning.”

“It’s a cowardly act that they have not at least allowed a vote,” said Wasserman Schultz, who heads the Democratic National Committee.

Such dramatic tactics by legislators are rare in the U.S. Capitol and the Democrats’ protest underscored how sensitive the gun control issue has become after the Orlando massacre and other mass shootings in Connecticut, Colorado, California and elsewhere in recent years. It also has become a heated issue in the run-up to the Nov. 8 U.S. presidential election.

Democrats were seeking votes on legislation to expand background checks for gun purchases, as well as measures to curb the sale of weapons to people on government watch lists.

Source: Reuters