Ryan just shut off the cameras in the House.

Update: they've turned off the microphones.

They're now tweeting and I think I heard there's a live feed somewhere.

Good for them.

someone's cell phone or something. Paul Ryan is a sack of sh...

Steve Cohen is with them. I'm guessing Jimmy Duncan is not.

Seventy-five year old Rep. Jim Clyburn, South Carolina, willing to spend the night on the floor. Said he did it in the 60s and thinks his body can handle it again.

Dear Member of the House and former colleagues:

There is nowhere I would rather be right now than with you — on the floor of the People’s House, representing Southern Arizona, fighting for our country, and working to make our communities safer. But your action is the balm for my regret — and it is the inspiration for my continued commitment.
Fighting gun violence takes great courage. I’ve seen great courage when my life was on the line. I see great courage in many of you right now.

Americans are grappling with a gun violence crisis. It is a crisis that tears apart the lives of so many Americans and touches every community. It is both public and private. In our homes and on our streets. At work, at church, at the movies, at a dance club, at school and at school again, at a Congress on Your Corner. The victims are young and old — but always with so much life ahead of them. They are white and black, Latino and Asian, and Native American. They are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and straight. They are Christian and Muslim, Jewish and Sikh. They are veterans and government workers and union members. They are rich and poor. They die by murder, they die by suicide, and they die by negligence. Often, they don’t die, but they carry the scars, and their lives change forever.

If gun violence affects all of us Americans, then the solution is not up to just some of us. We are all responsible for our safety today and for the country we pass on to our children tomorrow. It’s what makes us a country. Where our country has already come together — behind the simple proposition that we ought to have laws that keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people — so must our Congress. And they should not waste another minute.

We must not accept the world that will be the product of inaction in Washington. We can do better. Some states have already made progress — they show us that when we put aside our incidental or momentary differences and stand shoulder to shoulder, we have enormous power.

It’s been said that hope was forged of two powerful ingredients: anger at how things are, and the courage to change them. We will not be driven backwards to live in isolation from one another and in fear of violence.

Thanks to you — and millions of Americans who share our values of pluralism, liberty, and responsibility — we will stand strong and work toward a safer nation for all of us.

Speaking is difficult for me. But I haven’t been silenced. And neither should the American people. Their Representatives must vote to prevent gun violence.

Sincerely,
Gabrielle Giffords

CSPAN has a live feed from one of the people on the floor.

Tammy Duckworth leaves her wheelchair...

Politico: House goes on break until July 5, pre-empting guns sit-in

Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) sought to to quell the Democratic demonstration by having lawmakers vote at 2:30 a.m. on several bills they had to pass this week, including one to combat the Zika virus. After that, Republican leaders sent lawmakers home until July 5, starting their already-scheduled recess a few days earlier than planned.

The move will deny Democrats any chance of votes on gun control legislation.

They won't get a vote, but Democrats are still occupying the House floor...

(link...)

Shortly after 7:00 a.m., about 20 Democrats remained on the House floor, including House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi.

Pelosi responded: "That's not going to happen."

So folks are cheering a childish stunt, engaged in for the noble purpose of denying Constitutional rights to people who are guilty of nothing except being placed on secret "watch lists" by unaccountable bureaucrats. I'm actually stunned at the extent to which "progressives" have swallowed the idea of the security state hook line and sinker.

So I will repeate my modest proposal from the last time this insanity arose. It appears that the root cause of the Orlando massacre was Mateen's "self radicalization" from watching jihadi videos on the Internet. So let's have a sit in to deny Muslims the right to use the Internet, access public libraries or in any way have access to information which might tend to push them in a radical direction. Let's have intensive FBI surveillance of mosques to make sure they are not sending jihadi messages or propaganda. Let's engage in prophylactic incarceration of persons the government may suspect, so that they may not do any harm. Then we'd at last be safe!

Why stop with the denial of 2nd Amendment rights when it comes to potential terrorists? To be really safe we need to toss out the whole "freedom" thing altogether.

Ask yourselves this: once you've decided to preemptively deny Constitutional rights to people the government places on "watch lists", how will you feel if a President Trump or Cruz or, heck, any Republican President, was in charge of who went on those lists?

I never thought it would be Democrats who would lead the charge to destroy the Bill of Rights.

The spouse and I are registered independents. We used to be registered Democrats, but felt the party had lost its way and couldn't flip to the other side. Stuff like this only confirms that decision.

We expect our statesmen to behave like statesmen, not a bunch of aging hippies reliving their you. This may play well with the party faithful, but know that it puts the rest of us off big time.

A bunch of dead gay folks puts me off big time. Working on reasonable gun restrictions is statesman (and stateswoman)-like as hell!

i can't support gross racial profiling justified by a security-state stoking irrational fears of terrorism

often wish george W was still in office so partisan liberals would step back out of the security-hawk's nest.

i realize that more "traditional" gun regulation proposals are also a part of DNC platform, no criticism there, but this patriot act crap appealing to public fear of certain ethnic/religious groups craps the bed for me.

It's great that the Dem's are offering some common sense proposals, but the no-fly list is a due process nightmare. The Dems should not be using it for political theater. Full Stop.