NoBillNoBreak: Democrats Demand Gun Reforms

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U.S. Congressional Democrats have been demanding that the House of Representatives votes on gun-control legislation.

The Democratic Party lawmakers began the protest on Wednesday.

Congressman John Lewis of Georgia asked House Democrats to join him in a sit-in on the House floor to force a vote. Lewis was active in America’s civil rights movement, and took part in non-violent sit-in protests half a century ago.

The protest on the House floor continued through the night and into Thursday afternoon. The lawmakers held up pieces of paper with the names of gun violence victims. They spoke about the country’s need for stronger gun control measures.

Republicans in the U.S. Senate rejected four proposed gun measures earlier this week. The four bills were offered after the deadliest mass shooting in American history. Forty-nine people died in the attack at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.

The House of Representatives was supposed to suspend work this week until after the Fourth of July, a U.S. government holiday. But angry Democrats demanded that the House vote on gun-control bills before it closed for Independence Day. They shouted, “no bill, no break!”

The hashtag #nobillnobreak trended for more than 24 hours on Facebook and Twitter.

The Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, ordered that television cameras on the house floor be turned off. Without cameras recording their protest, the lawmakers turned to social media live-streaming tools, like Facebook Live and Periscope, to film the protest.

After the cameras were turned off, the congressional television channel, C-SPAN, began showing the lawmakers’ Facebook Live videos of the protest on TV.

And Periscope created a channel for users to watch all of the #nobillnobreak videos.

The House officially adjourned on Thursday, without voting on gun-control measures. Lawmakers will return to work after the July 4th holiday.

John Lewis spoke to reporters after he and the House Democrats ended their protest Thursday afternoon. “The fight is not over,” he said. “This is just one step.”

I’m Pete Musto.

Ashley Thompson wrote this report with materials from the Associated Press and VOANews.com. George Grow was the editor.