HAPPENING NOW: U.S. House Democrats stage sit-in on House floor over gun violence

Fed up with inac­tion in Con­gress on gun safe­ty reform, Demo­c­ra­t­ic mem­bers of the Unit­ed States House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives have decid­ed to occu­py the well of the House until Speak­er Paul Ryan and his lead­er­ship team agree to hold a vote on leg­is­la­tion that would address the nation’s gun vio­lence epidemic.

The sit-in began with a speech from the great Con­gress­man John Lewis, who declared, “We have turned deaf ears to the blood of the inno­cent and the deaths in our nation.” He then pro­ceed­ed to ask: “Mr, Speak­er, where is the heart of this body? Where is our soul?” He and many Demo­c­ra­t­ic col­leagues then sat down in the well of the House at 8:30 AM Pacif­ic Time — and they have not budged since.

When Repub­li­can U.S. Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Ed Poe of Texas tried to order the Democ­rats out of the well in order to go back to the busi­ness Repub­li­cans had planned, the Democ­rats refused, break­ing out into cries of “No bill, no vote!”

Repub­li­can lead­er­ship then ordered the cam­eras in the House cham­ber turned off, and the mics cut off. Democ­rats prompt­ly coun­tered this move by start­ing up a livestream of their protest on Periscope, which C‑SPAN began broad­cast­ing.

Democ­rats have repeat­ed­ly vowed not to go any­where until their demands are met. Their ral­ly­ing cry is “No break, no bill.”

“I am will­ing to stay here until hell freezes over,” said a defi­ant Con­gress­woman Max­ine Waters of Cal­i­for­nia, as the protest picked up more participants.

Demo­c­ra­t­ic law­mak­ers are tak­ing turns giv­ing impromp­tu speech­es from the floor, explain­ing why they are done mere­ly pay­ing lip ser­vice to vic­tims of gun vio­lence and hold­ing mean­ing­less moments of silence.

We at NPI applaud this protest and we hope House Democ­rats have the sta­mi­na to con­tin­ue it for as long as is nec­es­sary to force House Repub­li­cans to agree to sched­ule a vote on leg­is­la­tion to address our nation’s gun vio­lence epidemic.

Repub­li­cans, who have for so long been the mas­ters of polit­i­cal the­ater in Con­gress, now find them­selves total­ly upstaged by fed up Democ­rats. If Democ­rats want to get back into the major­i­ty, this is pre­cise­ly what they need to be doing. We con­grat­u­late Con­gress­man John Lewis and his col­leagues for tak­ing this action.

Watch the sit-in on C‑SPAN.

Andrew Villeneuve

Andrew Villeneuve is the founder and executive director of the Northwest Progressive Institute, as well as the founder of NPI's sibling, the Northwest Progressive Foundation. He has worked to advance progressive causes for over two decades as a strategist, speaker, author, and organizer. Andrew is also a cybersecurity expert, a veteran facilitator, a delegate to the Washington State Democratic Central Committee, and a member of the Climate Reality Leadership Corps.

Recent Posts

WA Filing Week 2024: A look at who’s filed in key races as of Monday evening

Who had filed for public office in Washington State as of the close of filing…

6 hours ago

Filing Week surprise: Tiffany Smiley jumps into WA-04 race, challenging Dan Newhouse

The question on many observers' minds will surely be, why is she only entering the…

11 hours ago

Sparks fly in 6th Congressional District contest as the endorsements chase heats up

The pursuit of high-profile endorsements from tribes, labor unions, business groups, local party organizations, and…

1 day ago

Last Week In Congress: How Cascadia’s U.S. lawmakers voted (April 29th — May 3rd, 2024)

The week's major votes included House passage of a set of destructive bills that seek…

2 days ago

Next up for the 2 Line: Linking Redmond and Bellevue’s downtowns to Seattle’s via the Homer M. Hadley Memorial Bridge

Perhaps as soon as next year, 2 Line trains will cross Lake Washington, making it…

2 days ago

The United States Supreme Court might soon give banks another deregulation gift

Depriving states of the means to modestly regulate national banks would further tilt America’s already…

3 days ago