Gun Control and the Art of the Sit-In

“The point here, Wolf, is that this is a publicity stunt,” Paul Ryan, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, told Wolf Blitzer, of CNN, at about 6 P.M. on Wednesday, explaining why he was ignoring calls for an up-or-down House vote on gun-control legislation. House Democrats, in an operation that began with an impassioned speech by Representative John Lewis, had been holding a sit-in for six hours, in an attempt to force such a vote. One goal of the legislation was to make it harder for people on terrorist watch lists to acquire guns. (This is known as No Fly, No Buy.) Ryan put on what he regards, perhaps, as a wry smile, and explained that he was just protecting Americans’ constitutional rights. Blitzer asked what the harm would be in just putting it up for a vote. “This isn’t trying to come up with a solution to a problem,” Ryan said. “This is trying to get attention.” Meanwhile, on the House floor, representatives were chanting, making speeches, and singing; after a couple of attempts to regain control, the Republican leadership had formally called a recess, but the sit-in continued. (The recess meant that the C-SPAN cameras were off, but “tech-savvy” members, as Nancy Pelosi called them, set up streaming video with Periscope.) Representative after representative told the story of a constituent who had died of gun violence—stories that they did, indeed, seem to believe demanded some attention. Many held up pictures of small children.

See the rest of the story at newyorker.com

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