Democrats Stage Sit-In to Protest Lack of Gun Control

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Summary: Democrats are showing their frustrations of the lack of gun control being addressed in the House of Representatives by staging a formal protest.

Democrats took a stand, or rather a seat, in the House of Representatives today in an attempt to force House Republicans to address gun control. Georgia congressman John Lewis led the group in the most evocative form of protest stemming from the civil rights movement – the sit-in.

  

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The group sat down at the front of the chamber in an act of civil disobedience against Republican Speaker Paul Ryan. The sit-in follows the Orlando mass shooting at a gay nightclub a week ago that left 49 people dead plus the gunman. The shooting has intensified efforts to change the laws regarding gun control.

Read Senate Rejects Four Gun Control Measures.

Ryan’s spokesperson AshLee Strong said, “The House cannot operate without members following the rules of the institution, so the House has recessed subject to the call of the chair.”

Republicans were not impressed with the act. Rep. Mark Walker said, “Calling this a sit-in is a disgrace to Woolworth’s. They sat-in for rights. Dems are ‘sitting-in’ to strip them away.” Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan added, “They refuse to leave until our Constitution replaces due process with secret lists.”

Lewis is very familiar with sit-ins, helping organize them at segregated lunch counters with the inspiration of Martin Luther King Jr. leading the way. Lewis was beaten so badly during the Edmund Pettus Bridge march that his skull was fractured.

See Martin Luther King Jr.’s Children Fighting Over Father’s Nobel Peace Prize and Bible.

Do you think changing gun laws will do anything to change how guns are used and obtained? Tell us in the comments below.

To learn more about John Lewis, read Emory Creates John Lewis Chair in Civil Rights, Social Justice.

Photo: abccolumbia.com