House Democrats end gun control sit-in after more than 24 hours
House Democrats ended their sit-in demanding gun control votes Thursday after occupying the lower chamber's floor for more than 24 hours straight.
"I feel good," Rep. John Lewis, D-Georgia, the civil rights icon, said from the House floor as he wrapped up their effort.
"We're going to win this struggle," Lewis added. "We must never, ever give up or give in. We must keep the faith."
From about 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday to just past 1 p.m. on Thursday, Democrats occupied the House floor to demand at least a vote on legislation that would bar suspected terrorists from being able to a gun. Others also wanted legislation that would expand background checks. They delivered speeches, tweeted photos and videos from the floor, which violated House rules, and sat cross-legged on the floor.
Scores of House Democrats participated in the sit-in, with many delivering speeches on the floor including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-California. Some Senate Democrats showed their support by joining their House counterparts in the sit-in including Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Connecticut, who led a 15-hour Senate filibuster last week on gun control, and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada.
Democrats organized the sit-in in the wake of the June 12 Orlando shooting that left 49 people dead and 53 people wounded. House Speaker Paul Ryan dismissed the sit-in as a publicity stunt and has signaled he doesn't intend to bring a no-fly, no-buy bill up for a vote in the House and Republicans want to focus instead on efforts to combat the terrorism threat.
"We are not going to allow stunts like this from carrying out the people's business," Ryan told reporters, just as the House's #NoBillNoBreak protest surpassed the 24-hour mark. "Why do I call this a stunt? Well, because it is one - let's just be honest here."
As the sit-in ended Thursday, a few hundred people assembled outside the Capitol to hear from House Democratic leaders and sang, "We shall overcome."
For the majority of the sit-in, Democrats were forced to broadcast the developments from their phones, using smartphone applications like Periscope and Facebook. House Republicans turned the cameras in the chamber off for much of Wednesday and Thursday because Ryan said Democrats were breaking House rules.
The sit-in caused Ryan to recess for much of Wednesday, delaying votes that were scheduled, and to hold an emergency conference meeting to discuss the GOP's next steps forward. Around 10 p.m. on Wednesday, Ryan brought the House back into recess and Democrats loudly chanted, "No bill, no break!" over Ryan. The House held a few more vote series into the early morning hours and adjourned for the July 4 recess.
CBS News' Reena Flores and Rebecca Kaplan contributed to this report.
