There Was Intense Confrontation on the House Floor Over Gun Control
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Republicans just voted to adjourn the House of Representatives until 2:30 a.m. ET, when they will hold a vote on funding Zika virus prevention efforts. They will not vote on a gun control bill dealing with the ability of people on the FBI's terror watch list to purchase a gun.
Congressional Democrats mostly dominated the floor of the during their sit-in to demand stricter gun control legislation.
C-SPAN - twimg.com
And, aside from a few brief appearances from Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) to attempt to bring the House to order, Republicans have been mostly missing in the action.
Except for Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert.
Louie Gohmert / Official Photo - house.gov
Gohmert crashed the floor of the house on Wednesday evening to interrupt California Democrat Brad Sherman and to loudly express his belief that mass shootings in America are the fault of “radical Islam” and not lax gun control.
In a video captured by a Periscope live stream broadcast on C-SPAN, Gohmert can be heard causing a disruption as Sherman attempts to speak.
“It appears that the gentleman is afraid to vote and afraid to debate,” Sherman said before Gohmert makes his way to the podium. “And given the weakness of his argument, his fear is well-founded.”
Gohmert then enters the frame, and loudly asserts “radical Islam killed these people,” while pointing a poster board showing faces of victims of gun violence.
The Texas congressman is then shouted down by chants of “no fly, no buy” and “Why do you want to let a terrorist buy a gun!”
As of 12:45 PM Eastern time, the Democrats' sit-in was still in progress, with no indication that Ryan would back down from his position to disallow a vote on a gun control measure.
