Georgia’s John Lewis Leads Sit In on the House Floor Over Gun Legislation
Georgia Fifth District Congressman John Lewis is the leader of a group of House Democrats who want a vote on the House floor on gun control measures. The congressman took to the well of the House this morning with this speech:
We are calling on the leadership of the House to bring common-sense gun control legislation to the House Floor. Give us a vote. Let us vote. We came here to do our jobs. We came here to work. The American people are demanding action.
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, when you have to make a little noise. When you have to move your feet. And this is the time. Now is the time to get in the way. The time to act is now. We will be silent no more. The time for silence is over.
Lewis’s remarks caught the eye of one important Washingtonian:
Thank you John Lewis for leading on gun violence where we need it most. https://t.co/vctfqAH5Wt
— President Obama (@POTUS) June 22, 2016
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Jon Richards
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John Lewis spent a year on the no-fly list, was unable to find out how he got on it or get himself off of it.
Now he would deny the constitutional rights to those who find themselves in the same predicament without the power/benefit of being a member of Congress, without any provision for due process? Shameful.
My concerns about the extra-judicial nature of the lists extend to Guantanamo.
Yeah, I would be all worked up about that, except I belong to the party that’s tried so shut down the entire government over budget fights. On the one hand, I think we should talk about the list -and which list (Terror Watch List or the “No-Fly” list?) and how one is put on it and why, and how one gets off it, and whether or not denying those merely suspected of being nutters and criminals would be an efficient way to FURTHER lower the gun homicide rate, (which has been basically halved since 1993, while gun sales have gone up 28% per year.)
On the other hand, turn out the freaking lights and let them sit there all summer.
Its funny the Democrats’ methods aren’t as ever changing as their views on morality, constitutional interpretation…etc
Wonder how Lewis would respond to taking away the made up right for a woman to have an abortion? Now THAT would really stop violence!!
Good point, Noway…as in, far more blacks die in the nation’s abortion mills than from gun violence, but Lewis can never find an abortion restriction he could support, not even (ironically) as a member of Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, where non-violence has always been a theme.
Oh, the Democrats are frustrated they don’t hold the House…still not admitting that a certain piece of legislation passed in 2010 led to their downfall in the elections that year. Something dubbed RobertsCare…perhaps without that, they would not have lost their majority in 2010. But a lot of them drank the Kool-Aid
Since you cannot filibuster in the House can some penalty be exacted for this waste of time? Is this illegal or just rule breaking? In any case it sets a bad precedent regardless of which party is in the minority in the future. OTOH it isn’t like Congress has been accomplishing anything as of late. Maybe they should not only turn off the lights as Mike as suggested but also the HVAC systems.
A hero doing hero stuff. Let’s propose a law and have a vote! That simple.
Omaha Beach, Iwo Jima, Edmund Pettus Bridge… all heroic. This bit of theater earning a 2-week break during a session that will accomplish nothing anyway… soap opera melodrama.
Irony is; making that speech in one of the most heavily defended public places in the world.
Not far from where Rep.Lewis spoke the bullet holes still exist from the Puerto Rican nationalist that shot up the House floor wounding five Representatives on March 1, 1954. The House preserves the numerous bullet holes in the desks and backs of chairs to remind the members bad folks still exist. Obviously, Rep. Lewis needs to be reminded. http://www.c-span.org/video/?317988-2/1954-shooting-congress C-SPAN video complete with video of the bullet holes.
you would think the fourth amendment would be more important to someone like john lewis…maybe not…
The Republicans should throw themselves on the floor too until they come back with an enforceable bill on immigration even if it requires a compromise on auto gun licensing. Heck let’s remove the seats until then.
So, is the mob still stomping their feet this am?
What other Constitutional Right do John Lewis and his fellow sit inners want to take away today? They’re trying to do a number on old Number 2, so don’t waste that effort, try do deny another one! Number 4? Naw, that’s already been obliterated. Any suggestions? How about the 5th? Not really, Hillary’s IT guy is busy invoking that one! C’mon, John, throw us a bone!
Will more guns laws work when the years of warning signals on the Orlando shooter and his family didn’t ? Muslims know the mosques and those with potential issues. One of the reports to the FBI was by a fellow Muslim.
Nothing is going to work except being well armed when the first focus is on what the protector did wrong or couldn’t check closer.
That completely flies in the face of wherever gun regulation that has been tried everywhere is applied consistently.
“Applied consistently” – fail – (no fan of these automatic guns in all the wrong hands either)