The mother of a young woman shot to death on live television stood on the steps of the Capitol on Wednesday morning and pledged to vote members of Congress out of office if they would not act on gun control.
Ninety-one activists in orange T-shirts, representing the 91 Americans killed with guns on an average day, stood behind her and chanted: “Out! Out! Out!”
“We will not stop until every one of the NRA-funded politicians either steps up to the plate and enacts change, or we will vote them out of office,” said Barbara Parker, whose 24-year-old daughter Alison, a television journalist in Virginia, was murdered by a former colleague during an early morning broadcast less than a year ago.
Parker protested alongside other victims of gun violence and leading House Democrats, including leader Nancy Pelosi and Congressman John Lewis, as they continued to pressure House speaker Paul Ryan to allow a vote on two pieces of gun control legislation.
After a rebellious 26-hour sit-in for gun control on the House floor on 22 June, which prompted censure from Republicans, Democrats are now following the rules when it comes to pushing for action on gun violence prevention. The protest on the steps of the Capitol followed a day of Democratic speeches on gun control on Tuesday, when Congress returned to business after the Independence Day holiday.
Ryan, who met privately with two House Democratic protest organizers last night, showed no sign of budging. His spokeswoman said in a statement that the legislators “have different views on how to achieve a shared goal of preventing gun deaths in America – particularly on matters of due process,” a reference to the congressional debate over what power, if any, law enforcement officials should have to bar people on terrorism watchlists from legally buying guns.
“Win elections and get the majority, then you can set the agenda,” Ryan said in an interview with a Milwaukee radio station on Tuesday.
Republicans have agreed to only a single gun-related vote, on a measure that would give law enforcement officials three days to delay the purchase of a gun by a suspected terrorist, and then convince a judge to block the sale. Democrats have called the measure, which is similar to a Senate bill approved by the National Rifle Association, a “cynical” and unworkable policy which would not make Americans safer. Republicans argue that a more aggressive policy to block suspected terrorists from buying guns would violate due process.
While the mass shooting in Orlando has galvanized Democratic protests, House Democrats and advocates say they want to address the broader toll of gun violence, not just mass shootings or acts of terror involving guns.
In Wednesday’s Capitol steps protest, Democrats put the spotlight on the victims of many kinds of gun violence, from a mother whose son killed himself with a gun he bought at Walmart, to the cousin of an NFL player who survived being shot 11 times, to a woman attacked by an ex-boyfriend who was able to buy a gun online even though he was legally barred from owning firearms.
Many of the victims focused on the need to expand the federal requirements for background checks on gun sales.
Connecticut congressman John Larson, who met with Ryan on Tuesday night, told the Guardian he was still hopeful that Republicans would allow Democrats a vote on two other gun control measures, one to block suspected terrorists from buying guns, a proposal closely tied to the circumstances of the Orlando shooting last month, and one to expand background checks on gun sales, a broader measure that might have an impact on different kinds of gun violence.
House Democrats are continuing to meet regularly to plan their next steps forward, Larson said. The intensity and the form of their gun control protests “may escalate or de-escalate” depending on what happens next.
“We have all options on the table,” he said.
