"We are going to hold the floor of the House of Representatives — we are in our nineteenth hour — until we can get the majority to do their jobs and get us a vote," Democratic National Committee chairwoman Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz said, in an interview with CBS This Morning on Thursday. "It is a cowardly act that they have not at least allowed a vote."
The feed to CSPAN was turned off, so lawmakers took to Facebook and Periscope to livestream their civil disobedience, violating House rules. Many tweeted throughout the evening.
One of the proposals set forth involves closing the “gun show loophole,” and mandating background checks for every gun buy, online and at trade shows.
A second proposal, dubbed “No Fly, No Buy,” would prevent anyone who appears on both the secretive terrorist watchlist and the no-fly list, from purchasing a gun. The same proposal was voted on earlier in the week in Senate, and failed.
The Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment (TIDE) list contains the names of over 1,000,000 American citizens, and currently there is no path for those mistakenly placed on the list to be removed, or even to seek a trial to defend themselves.
Many people, on both the right and the left, point out that taking away a citizen's rights without due process is unconstitutional.
In 2014, Lewis penned a letter to the Department of Homeland Security against the list, saying it “provides no effective means of redress for unfair or incorrect designations.”
At several points throughout the evening the House descended into chaos, including an altercation between Representative Louie Gohmert (R-TX) and Representative Corrine Brown (D-FL). Gohmert, the aggressor in this situation, ended up having to be restrained by several colleagues.
“Radical Islam killed the people,” Republican Gohmert began yelling, pointing to photos of the victims of the Orlando massacre.
The protest comes after 49 people were killed and 53 injured in a mass shooting. The shooter declared his support for Daesh as he was killing people at a popular gay nightclub in Orlando. The shooter undergone a background check and obtained his weapons legally, and would not have been affected by the proposals the Democrats have set forth.
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) criticized the Democrats for their protest, calling it a publicity stunt and a show to raise funds, as well as declaring "we're not going to take away a citizen's constitutional rights without due process.”
"We are not going to let stunts like this stop us from carrying out the people's business," Ryan said at his weekly news briefing. "Why do I call this a stunt? Because it is one. Let's all be honest here.
"They are not trying to get this done through regular order. They're staging protests; they're trying to get on TV; they are sending fundraising solicitations."
"If this is not a political stunt, they why are they trying to raise money off of it?" Ryan asked.
The House is now out of session until July 5, and many lawmakers have vowed to continue the protest after the break.
“When we come back in July, we will start all over again,” Lewis said on Thursday morning.
“We made some progress. We crossed one bridge, but we have other bridges to cross,” he added.
