Chicago Tribune: Illinois Democrats join sit-in to demand U.S. House votes on gun control
The following article was published in Chicago Tribune on June 23, 2016. A link to the article can be found here.
By Katherine Skiba
Democrats from Illinois spoke out Wednesday during a rare, raucous sit-in on the House floor, demanding votes on gun control.
They threw decorum out the window and, with C-SPAN's camera shut off, spread the word with tweets, snapshots and video.
Rep. Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq war veteran, sat with other lawmakers on the chamber's floor. She'd removed her leg prosthetics and secreted her smartphone inside one of them so the phone wouldn't be taken away.
Members took turns making speeches.
"Chicago is going through an epidemic of gun violence that is horrific," Duckworth said. "It is absolutely horrific."
The Hoffman Estates lawmaker, who is challenging Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., said there were more powerful weapons on U.S. streets than the standard Army rifles given to soldiers when she served in Iraq.
Duckworth said she was willing to go duck hunting or to a rifle range with anyone who wanted to talk about gun legislation.
Rep. Robin Kelly, of Matteson, left the protest to appear with members led by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., on the Capitol steps. Their rallying cry was "no bill, no break," because they want the Fourth of July recess postponed if the Republican-led House doesn't allow gun control votes.
"Just who has to be shot and how many have to die before we do anything?" asked Kelly, a featured speaker at Pelosi's event.
Kelly singled out by name gun victims Gabby Giffords, an Arizona congresswoman gravely wounded in a shooting, and Chicago schoolchildren Hadiya Pendleton and Blair Holt, who lost their lives to gunfire.
Rep. Mike Quigley, of Chicago, also mentioned Holt, the son of a police officer and firefighter. Quigley said the 16-year-old boy jumped in front of a friend amid gunfire on a CTA bus in 2007.
The boy saved his friend's life but lost his, Quigley said. That takes far more courage than having votes in Congress, he said.
Rep. Jan Schakowsky, of Evanston, said in floor remarks that 13 people were killed and more than 40 people, including a 3-year-old, were injured over Father's Day weekend in Chicago.
"Neighbors ask me for action at the grocery store and at the gym and as I boarded the plane yesterday," she said.
All 10 Democratic House members from the state took part in or supported the sit-in, which drew a visit from Sen. Dick Durbin.
The protest was prompted by members including Kelly and Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., a veteran of the civil rights movement, said Kayce Ataiyero, Kelly's spokeswoman.
That group wrote House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., to call for a vote on expanding background checks for firearm purchases and on banning the sale of guns to suspected terrorists.
Four gun-control measures failed to advance Monday in the Senate in the aftermath of the Orlando, Fla., nightclub massacre.