‘We’re Not Going Away’: House Democrats May Stage 2nd Sit-In Over Gun Control This Week

Speaker Ryan Again Refuses to Allow Votes on Proposals Related to ‘No Fly’ List, Background Checks

Democrats in Congress may renew their historic sit-in on the House floor after GOP Speaker Paul Ryan again refused their request Tuesday for votes on two gun-control measures. 

“We’re not going away,” California Rep. Mike Thompson, who leads a Democratic task force on gun violence, told Politico. 

More than three weeks after the Orlando terror attack, Ryan met Tuesday with Democratic Reps. John Lewis of Georgia and John Larson of Connecticut, who led the unprecedented 26-hour sit-in prior to the July 4 recess.

On the first day back after the recess, Lewis and Larson again demanded votes on proposals to bar anyone on the federal “no fly” list from purchasing a gun, and to require background checks for all firearms sales. 

“I think the speaker heard us. He’s listening,” Lewis told Politico after the meeting. “But he couldn’t give us any assurances or guarantee that the bills that we’ve been asking to be placed on the agenda, that they would be brought up.”

A Democratic aide told The Washington Post that if Ryan doesn’t allow the votes, “members will have further discussions about possible actions to take in response.” 

Lewis, meanwhile, has said only that Democrats will pursue “tactics or techniques in keeping with the discipline of non-violence,” while Minority Whip Steny Hoyer has pledged, “We will be back.”

Meanwhile, Republicans are threatening to punish Democrats who participated in the first sit-in for allegedly breaking House rules, The New York Times reports.