What you need to know about the House Democrats’ sit-in

All eyes are on Congress this week.

First, on Monday, after last week’s Democrat-driven filibuster put forth the demand that Congress take action on gun control, the Senate voted on a bill with several amendments focused on this issue. The bill, if passed, would have required every gun purchaser to undergo a background check, would require that law enforcement be alerted if anyone on the terror watch list attempted to buy a gun from a licensed dealer, and finally, included an amendment popularly known as “no fly, no buy,” that would allow the attorney general to deny the sale of guns if there is a “reasonable belief” the buyer would engage in acts of terror.

This bill did not pass in the Senate and now there is a contingency of House Democrats who are bringing the issue to their side of Congress. Today, the House Democrats are staging a sit-in on the House Floor, with over a 100 Democrat Representatives participating. The sit-in began on Wednesday morning, and is led by Georgia Representative John Lewis, a leader in the 1960s Civil Rights movement.

“Sometimes you have to do something out of the ordinary. Sometimes you have to make a way out of no way. We have been too quiet for too long,” Lewis said at the sit-in today. “There comes a time when you have to say something, when you have to make a little noise, when you have to move your feet. This is the time. Now is the time to get in the way. The time to act is now. We will be silent no more.”

The Democrats currently sitting on the floor of the House, refusing to leave until, as House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi puts it, they “have the bill.”

The participating Representatives are bringing the sit-in to us via social media, using the hashtags #HoldTheFloor and #NoBillNoBreak. Here’s a sampling of the most powerful posts:

Additionally, Representative Scott Peters has been Periscoping the sit-in, you can watch the live feed below: