Democrats stage dramatic sit-in on floor of House of Representatives

Democrats led by Georgia congressman John Lewis, a veteran of the 1960s American civil rights movement, staged a dramatic sit-in on the floor of the US House of Representatives to force a vote on gun control.

Frustrated by the US senate’s failure to pass gun restrictions in the wake of the Orlando gay nightclub massacre, a group of about 60 House Democrats sat in the middle of the floor of the lower chamber of the US congress to try to reverse years of congressional inaction in response to mass shootings.

“We can no longer wait,” said Mr Lewis from the House floor. “We can no longer be patient. So today, we come to the well of the House to dramatise the need for action. Not next month, not next year, but now, today.”

He continued: “Sometimes you have to do something out of the ordinary. Sometimes you have to make a way out of no way. We have been too quiet for too long. There comes a time when you have to say something. You have to make a little noise. You have to move your feet. This is the time.”

Mr Lewis urged his fellow Democrats to “occupy the floor of the House until there is action” and his colleagues chanted: “I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired!” and “No bill, no break!” and sang 1960s protest songs as they continued their occupation.

The Democratic legislators shared stories of constituents killed in gun violence during their speeches on the House floor.

President Barack Obama thanked Mr Lewis in a tweet for “leading on gun violence where we need it most. Vice-president Joe Biden called Mr Lewis “the keeper of the nation’s conscience at times of challenge and controversy”.

Republicans, who control Congress, called a recess to proceedings in the House forcing the cameras broadcasting from the floor of the chamber to be switched off.

Coverage of the demonstration instead moved online.

In an unusual move, television channel C-Span, which broadcasts congressional business, was unable to televise the sit-in because the House was not formally in session.

The channel streamed video footage of the protest through the web streaming app Periscope, broadcast by Democratic congressman Scott Peters of California, and at other times a Facebook feed in an event that was shared widely on social media.

Democrats complained that Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan had pulled the plug on the C-Span broadcast and the party’s minority leader Nancy Pelosi called on Mr Ryan to turn on the microphone at the rostrum where the speeches were being made.

A spokeswoman for Mr Ryan tweeted that the House “cannot operate without members following the rules of the institution so the House has recessed subject to the call of the chair”.

Outside the House chamber, Mr Lewis recalled his struggles more than a half-century ago in the campaign for civil rights for black Americans in his fight for gun controls.

“More than 50 years ago, I sat in, got arrested and went to jail, and now I have come to Congress and I have to sit in again? Just trying to get someone to sit down with us, negotiate about passing aggressive legislation to deal with gun violence. It is almost too much,” he told news channel MSNBC.

Efforts to pass gun restrictions into law in response to mass shootings have stumbled in the Republican-led House over the past five years.

Four gun policy measures, including a restriction that would have prevented terror suspects on the US no-fly list from purchasing a gun, failed to pass the 60-vote threshold to proceed in the Republican-controlled House, on Monday.

The measures were pushed by Senate Democrats after a lone gunman killed 49 people and injured 53 in Florida 10 days ago in the worst mass shooting in modern US history and the Democrats led a near 15-hour filibuster to demand action on gun control.

Susan Collins, a Republican senator from Maine, has since proposed new legislation on Tuesday to prevent terrorists from buying firearms.

Democratic legislators want a vote before they leave for a scheduled break at the end of this week.