In the News

Jill Palermo

There’s pizza, Chinese food and Sen. Elizabeth Warren just dropped off coffee and donuts.

That’s the report from U.S. Rep. Gerald Connolly, who is joining his Democratic colleagues on the House floor tonight for a rare protest sit-in that he expects will last well into the night.

At about 9:45 p.m., Connolly, D-11th, said he was among a long list of fellow Democrats waiting their turn to speak in support of a vote on proposed legislation that to ban those who listed on the federal terrorism no-fly list from purchasing guns.

When he gets his turn at the mic, Connolly said he’ll talk again about the toll of gun violence in Virginia, including the 2007 tragedy at Virginia Tech, which took the lives of 32 college students and professors, including five from Northern Virginia.

“We’re asking for a pretty simple thing,” Connolly said in a telephone interview. “We ought to have a chance to have a vote on a proposal to prevent anybody on the no fly list from getting a gun. We think that’s a pretty basic proposition for public safety.”

Until the June 12 shooting in Orlando, the Virginia Tech shooting had been the most deadly mass shooting in recent U.S. history.

Connolly said he has been on the floor since about 11 a.m. this morning, when Rep. John Lewis, of Georgia, gave an impassioned speech that sparked the impromptu sit-in.

“The plan was to have a protest on the steps at the Capitol at 1 p.m. What happened that was unplanned,” Connolly said.

Connolly said he was joined by two other members of the Virginia delegation: Rep. Bobby Scott, D-3rd, and Rep. Don Beyer, D-8th. Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine also joined the protest earlier in the day, Connolly said.

Connolly said he’s been receiving supportive emails and tweets from his Virginia constituents since the protest began.

“People are saying, Right on! They’re following it,” Connolly said. “We’re getting a lot of encouragement.”

Like people around the country, Northern Virginians have been watching the live “periscope” broadcast of the proceedings taken via cell phone by Rep. Scott Peters, of California, and Beto O’Rourke, of Texas.

The official broadcast feed, which belongs to the U.S. House, was turned off when the House went into recess at about 11 a.m. this morning.

At about 10 p.m. tonight, Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, had returned to the chamber to call the House to order to take votes on unrelated issues.

Ryan was immediately interrupted by Democrats’ continuous protest chants. The House remained in session until it recessed again about a half hour later.

Attempts to contact the other members of Northern Virginia’s congressional delegation -- Rep. Barbara Comstock, R-10th and Rep. Rob Wittman, R-1st – were not immediately successful.

In an email, Comstock spokesman Jeff Marschner said Comstock has a “long record of supporting and providing our state, local and federal officials with the tools necessary to battle terrorism.”

Comstock was at the Capitol to participate in the other votes at issue tonight, Marschner wrote.

Connolly, meanwhile, said he believed the night’s events marked a turning point of sorts in the congressional response to gun violence.

“I think this is a long-term struggle but what I think this does mark is a new attitude about these tragedies,” Connolly said.

“If today’s activity doesn’t have the desired effect, we’ll be back. It will never be the same again. Our approach to mass killings has changed and we’re going to be there at the battlements and we’re going to keep fighting,” he added. “Mass killings cannot be the new normal. That’s our message.”

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