My colleagues & I have had enough. We are sitting-in on the House Floor until we get a vote to address gun violence. https://t.co/rTqrPifuUz

— John Lewis (@repjohnlewis) June 22, 2016

Democratic members of the House are staging a sit-in on the House floor to protest the body’s lack of action on gun violence.

It began with a fiery speech from Congressman John Lewis (D-GA) on the House floor, surrounded by at least two dozen of his Democratic colleagues as he called for a House vote on “commonsense action” regarding gun control.

“What would finally make Congress do what is right, what is just, what the people of this country have been demanding, and what is long overdue?” Lewis said. “We have lost hundreds and thousands of innocent people to gun violence—tiny little children, babies, students, and teachers, mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers. And what has this body done? … Nothing, not one thing.”

“Sometimes you have to do something out of the ordinary,” Lewis said. “Sometimes you have to make a way out of no way … Now is the time to get in the way. We will be silent no more. The time for silence is over.”

According to Politico, the “protest seemed to catch Republicans off guard.”

As another House Democrat prepared to speak, the GOP lawmaker presiding over the chamber suddenly declared the House was in recess and shut off microphones.

Democrats including Reps. Joe Crowley (N.Y.), Donna Edwards (Md.) and John Larson (Conn.) then sat down on the floor by the front podium. They began
reading the names of those who died in the June 12 shooting at a Florida nightclub that left 49 dead and 53 wounded.

But it doesn’t look like Democrats are planning to go anywhere.

#WeWillNotYield the floor until we get a vote on common sense gun legislation Americans are demanding #NoBillNoBreak pic.twitter.com/wkmlnKrTz6

— Eleanor H. Norton (@EleanorNorton) June 22, 2016

The call for a recess means the cameras are off, so CSPAN is directing its audiences to members’ tweets and Periscope.

The action by House Dems is similar to last week’s efforts in the upper chamber. Senate Democrats staged a nearly 15-hour filibuster to get a vote on increasing background checks and preventing gun sales to people on the no-fly list. On Monday the Senate voted on four gun control measures and they all failed.

A group of bipartisan senators introduced a new gun control measure yesterday, which seeks to prohibit gun sales to people on two watchlists: the no-fly list, and a broader list culled by the FBI.

Critics have raised questions about the effectiveness and constitutionality of the no-fly list, and of turning gun control into a terror rather than public health issue.

In the House, Republican lawmakers have tried to roll back D.C.’s gun laws since Orlando. “Gun control is not the solution,” Congressman Thomas Massie (R-KY) said.

Lewis has a long history of what he calls #GoodTrouble as a civil rights icon, including marching across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in what’s often called Bloody Sunday.

Obama offered up his support:

Periscope is stepping into the fray to bring live coverage:

This post has been updated.