To Many Liberals, This Gun Vote Isn't Worth a Sit-In

Source: Roll Call | June 23, 2016 | Andrew Breiner

Even those who favor gun control think it’s a bad hill to die on

House Democrats rallied attention to efforts to pass gun control legislation after the Orlando shooting by plopping down on the floor of the House chamber Wednesday and staying put. Some remained at the “non-filibuster” all night and into Thursday morning , giving speeches on mass shootings and the need for a vote.  

The Democrats’ amendment would allow the federal government to block a gun sale if the buyer’s name appears on a terrorist watch list. It would also put anyone investigated for terrorism in the last 5 years one of those lists.  

But some  ardent gun control supporters say that the amendment is both very weak, likely to make little to no impact if enacted, a violation of due process, and likely to unfairly target Muslims. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., a civil rights leader and leader of the sit-in, complained he was stuck on the no-fly list in 2004, as was former-Senator Ted Kennedy.  

The hashtag #DemsNeverSat was tweeted to express surprise that Democrats would use their most theatrical tactics on such a flawed effort that is so unlikely to succeed, rather than on more consequential votes.

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The American Civil Liberties Union, typically friendly to gun control legislation, sent a letter to the Senate on Monday opposing the use of terror watchlists to restrict gun sales, calling them “error-prone” and “unfair,” and criticizing watchlist expansion to “include even people long ago cleared of any wrongdoing by law enforcement.”

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