Civil rights activist Rep. John Lewis of Georgia not only held a passionate speech against gun violence on Tuesday, but also led the group of Democrats in sitting on the chamber floor to force a vote.
Lewis’ speech included strong pleas for immediate changes in the wake of the largest mass shooting in U.S. history.
“What would finally make congress do what is right? […] We have lost hundreds and thousands of innocent people to gun violence. […] And what has this body done? Mr. Speaker, nothing! Not one thing.”
Lewis’ speech is a call for action:
“We were elected to lead, Mr. Speaker. We must be headlights and not taillights. We cannot continue to stick our heads in the sand [to avoid] the gun violence in our nation.”
Lewis’ speech ended on an emotional note with him banging his fist on the podium to bring common sense gun control legislation to the house. He said:
“Give us a vote. Let us vote. We came here to do our job. We came here to work. American people are demanding action.”
After making his statements, Lewis and the rest of the Democrats sat down on the chamber floor.
Joining w/ @repjohnlewis &dozens of my colleagues for House sit-in for a vote to prevent gun violence #NoBillNoBreak pic.twitter.com/Lg4cM9Gzj0
— Elizabeth Esty (@RepEsty) June 22, 2016
Twitter soon overloaded with the following viral tweet by Rep. John Yarmuth:
“I’m on the House floor with @repjohnlewis & Dems staging a sit-in to demand action on common sense gun legislation.”
I’m on the House floor with @repjohnlewis & Dems staging a sit-in to demand action on commonsense gun legislation pic.twitter.com/byIivby5gG
— Rep. John Yarmuth (@RepJohnYarmuth) June 22, 2016
In fact, Twitter became the number one source of news since the House went to recess and the cameras were turned off. All cameras are controlled by the Speaker of the House, including C-SPAN, who felt the need to tweet an explanation:
“C-SPAN has no control over the U.S. House TV cameras.”
C-SPAN has no control over the U.S. House TV cameras.
— CSPAN (@cspan) June 22, 2016
Speaker Paul Ryan’s response to Democrats, by shutting off C-SPAN, was due to the fact that the House was not in session when the Democrats began their demonstration. However, Republican leaders ordered C-SPAN cameras turned off again as the protest resumed Wednesday afternoon, according to ABC News.
On a more humorous note, Rep. Keith Ellison’s mother sent him the following message today about joining the sit-in:
“Your mom called and wants you on the floor.”
So I’m meeting with @keithellison. His scheduler walks in and hands him this note. Meeting ends 🙂 #NoBillNoBreak pic.twitter.com/JwnusZKZuo
— Trita Parsi (@tparsi) June 22, 2016
Rep. John Lewis’ full speech can be seen here:
Featured image screengrab from Twitter.
