June 22, 2016

Rep. John Lewis Stages Sit-In to Demand Gun Control Vote

#NoBillNoBreak

Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) led a sit-in on the House floor on Wednesday to demand a vote on the “no fly, no gun” bill, a bipartisan measure that would ban the sale of guns to suspected terrorists on the government’s no-fly list. He was joined by dozens of fellow Democrats, including senators who joined the demonstration to offer their support and force a vote.


Republicans gaveled out of session, effectively blocking C-SPAN from airing the sit-in. Democrats took to social media instead to broadcast the event:


As the sit-in continued, President Barack Obama thanked Lewis for taking a stand:


The protest comes in the aftermath of the deadliest mass shooting in American history, which killed 49 people inside an Orlando nightclub on June 12. The massacre prompted a marathon 15-hour filibuster in the Senate to force a vote on gun control bills. On Monday, four gun control measures failed to advance, with nearly every Republican senator voting against them.

Mother Jones reporter Hannah Levintova is on the scene. Head to her Twitter account for live updates:


 

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We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

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