10 Powerful Moments From the Congressional Gun Sit-In
6. Elizabeth Warren brings the party
Around 8:30 p.m., Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren arrived at the House with an armful of donuts. (Wednesday also happened to be Warren’s 67th birthday.)
Massachusetts knows: America — and #NoBillNoBreak — runs on @DunkinDonuts. #birthdaydonuts #holdthefloor pic.twitter.com/XG1wzU5q41
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) June 23, 2016
7. Paul Ryan tries, and fails, to gavel the House into order
Around 10 p.m., Speaker Paul Ryan — who was not in the chambers when the sit-in began — returned to try and regain control of the House with a series of votes. “The chair appreciates that members will differ on matters of policy, and will seek to express those differences, but the chair would hope that the business of the House could be conducted in a fashion that respects positively on the dignity and decorum of this institution to which we all belong,” Ryan said.
He then called for a vote to override President Obama’s veto of the “fiduciary rule,” a provision that requires financial advisers to act in their clients’ best interests. Democrats, crowded on the House floor, waved signs with the names of gun-violence victims and chanted, “No bill, no break!” and, “Shame!” before breaking into song. Congress members sang a version of the Civil Rights anthem “We Shall Overcome,” changing the lyrics to “We shall pass a bill.” (The vote, which needed a two-thirds majority to pass, failed.)
8. Louie Gohmert rails against “radical Islam”
In one of the most contentious moments of the night, Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas strode onto the House floor, interrupting remarks by California’s Brad Sherman on a bill that would ban individuals on the terror watch list from getting a gun.
“Radical Islam killed these people!” Gohmert croaked loudly, pointing to photos of Orlando shooting victims. (The poster of photos was being held by Rep. Corrine Brown, in whose district the shooting took place.) “We are talking about radical Islam!” he said
Gohmert was drowned out by Democratic lawmakers chanting, “No fly, no guns” and “No bill, no break.”
9. An emotional Debbie Dingell: “I know what it’s like to have a gun pointed at you.”
As the demonstration stretched into the night, Rep. Debbie Dingell of Michigan took the podium to deliver a fiery and deeply personal speech about living with an unstable gun owner. (Dingell, who has pushed measures that would restrict abusers’ access to guns, has spoken in the past about her father’s threats and violence.)
“I lived in a house with a man that should not have had access to a gun. I know what it’s like to see a gun pointed at you and wonder if you are going to live,” she said. “And I know what it’s like to hide in a closet and pray to God, Do not let anything happen to me. And we don’t talk about it, we don’t want to say that it happens in all kind of households, and we still live in a society that we will let a convicted felon who was stalking somebody, a domestic abuser, still own a gun.”