Joined by the rest of the House Democratic Caucus, Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) was the first of four speakers at a rally on the Capitol steps Wednesday to call for tougher gun control laws. | Alex Wong/Getty Images Rep. Lewis: 'No amount of blood' will push Congress on gun control

Rep. John Lewis castigated his Republican colleagues Wednesday morning for their unwillingness to support gun control legislation in the wake of the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, declaring on the steps of the Capitol that “there’s no amount of blood or pain or death or suffering that would move this Congress to act.”

Joined by the rest of the House Democratic Caucus, Lewis (D-Ga.) was the first of four speakers at a rally Wednesday to call for tougher gun control laws, a push that has been reignited this week in the wake of a shooting in Las Vegas that left 58 people dead and more than 500 injured. That call for new gun legislation has been mostly stonewalled by Republicans, who control the majority in both houses of Congress.


“This Congress has failed the American people. As in Newtown and Aurora and Charleston and Orlando, now in Las Vegas, how many more must die? A hundred? A thousand? 10,000? A million? What is your blood price? How many more must die?” Lewis said. “But there’s no number, is there? There’s no amount of blood or pain or death or suffering that would move this Congress to act. We hold moments of silence and vigil. We offer our thoughts and prayers, but it’s all a show, a placeholder until people forget.”

Increasingly, Democrats have been unwilling to steer away from politics in the wake of mass shootings, insisting that such moments put the issue of gun violence front and center before the American people and generate momentum for tougher laws. Last summer, Democrats staged a sit-in on the House floor to demand a vote on gun violence in the wake of a shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, the deadliest mass shooting in the nation’s history until Sunday’s in Las Vegas.

Republicans have generally objected to calls for gun control legislation in the wake of shootings, accusing Democrats of politicizing a national tragedy. A handful of Democrats have begun refusing to participate in House-floor moments of silence for mass shooting victims, arguing that action, not silence, is required.

In the wake of last Sunday’s shooting, House Democrats have again called for new gun control measures as well as a congressional select committee on gun violence. “I ask the speaker, what’s so scary about a select committee?” Rep. Robin Kelly (D-Ill.), another of the four speakers at Tuesday’s rally, told the crowd. “You created two last Congress but can’t find the space for a committee to find a way to save 30,000 American lives every year?”

Lewis, a leader in the civil rights movement, recalled that the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was killed by gun violence, as was Sen. Robert Kennedy. And two members of Congress — former Rep. Gabby Giffords and House Majority Whip Steve Scalise — were seriously wounded in mass shootings.

He said Congress had been elected “to be a headlight and not a taillight” and called on its members to demonstrate “raw courage.”

“We can no longer be patient. If there was a fire, we would bring water. If there was a virus, we would send medicine, if it was one of the storms, we would give shelter. This is about guns, and so once more, this Congress does nothing,” he said. “Don’t tell me this is about anything other than greed. Greed, money and fear.”

