June 22, 2016

Rep. John Lewis Stages Sit-In to Demand Gun Control Vote

#NoBillNoBreak

Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) led a sit-in on the House floor on Wednesday to demand a vote on the “no fly, no gun” bill, a bipartisan measure that would ban the sale of guns to suspected terrorists on the government’s no-fly list. He was joined by dozens of fellow Democrats, including senators who joined the demonstration to offer their support and force a vote.


Republicans gaveled out of session, effectively blocking C-SPAN from airing the sit-in. Democrats took to social media instead to broadcast the event:


As the sit-in continued, President Barack Obama thanked Lewis for taking a stand:


The protest comes in the aftermath of the deadliest mass shooting in American history, which killed 49 people inside an Orlando nightclub on June 12. The massacre prompted a marathon 15-hour filibuster in the Senate to force a vote on gun control bills. On Monday, four gun control measures failed to advance, with nearly every Republican senator voting against them.

Mother Jones reporter Hannah Levintova is on the scene. Head to her Twitter account for live updates:


 

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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