WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Rep. Eric Swalwell (CA-15) on Wednesday joined dozens of his fellow House Democrats for a sit-in on the House floor to demand that Speaker Ryan and House Republican leadership allow a vote on bipartisan legislation to address gun violence.<\/p>\n
The sit-in \u2013 led by civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis (GA-5) \u2013 came amid continued Republican obstructionism following last week\u2019s act of hate and terror in Orlando, the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.<\/p>\n
Democrats demand votes on the bipartisan King-Thompson legislation to expand and strengthen our background checks system, and on the bipartisan \u201cNo Fly, No Buy\u201d bill to keep guns out of the hands of suspected terrorists.<\/p>\n
Republican leadership has refused to allow such votes, and turned off the House chamber\u2019s cameras Wednesday to prevent C-SPAN from airing the sit-in. Swalwell and other Democrats responded by using Periscope, Facebook Live, Snapchat, Twitter and other platforms to honor Americans\u2019 right to see their Congress in action.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll any victim\u2019s family expects is that we do the most that we can to make sure it doesn\u2019t happen again. No one here on the floor thinks we\u2019re going to reduce every instance of gun violence. But damn it, isn\u2019t that why we came here \u2013 to try?\u201d Swalwell said at the sit-in\u2019s podium. \u201cWe may not take evil out of every heart, but we are the place in the world \u2026 where we can reduce the amount of weapons that are in evil hands.\u201d<\/p>\n
House Republicans have voted 13 times to block consideration of the bipartisan \u2018No Fly, No Buy\u2019 legislation.\u00a0 Senate Republicans did likewise this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough there are only Democrats on the floor right now, there are a lot of seats in this chamber, there\u2019s a lot of room on this floor for our Republican colleagues to join us once again,\u201d Swalwell said during the sit-in. \u201cBecause the American people don\u2019t care who gets the credit. I\u2019m calling on my Republican colleagues, come on down and let\u2019s start with the basic idea that if you\u2019re too dangerous to get on a plane, you\u2019re too dangerous to buy a gun. And then we can work from there.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe victims of gun violence will not get a break next week in their grieving,\u201d he continued. \u201cThe people who are ravaging our communities with guns, they will not take a break next week from carrying out more murder and more wrath. So if they are not going to take a break, we should not take a break. Mr. Speaker, if there is no bill, there should be no break.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n