Democrats seized the floor and the political spotlight on gun control Wednesday, staging a sit-in that shut down the House and C-SPAN’s cameras.
Lawmakers took over the floor just before midday and said they would not relinquish control until Republicans allowed a vote on legislation to prevent suspected terrorists from buying firearms.
Republicans gaveled the chamber into recess and turned off the House cameras, leaving Democrats to give speeches in a mostly empty chamber.
But Democrats used Twitter and other social media platforms to deliver their gun control speeches and chants of “No bill, no break” to a national audience.
And C-SPAN, after repeatedly noting on air that it had no control over the House cameras, switched to Periscope and Facebook Live to air the scene on its main network.