White House backs House Democrats’ sit-in for gun control

The White House voiced solidarity Wednesday with House Democrats who staged a 1960s-style “sit-in” on the chamber floor to demand a vote on legislation that would bar firearm sales to people on the government’s terrorist watch list.

“They are showing the kind of frustration and even anger that people around the country have about the inability of the Republican-led Congress to take common-sense steps that would protect the American people,” said White House press secretary Josh Earnest.

“They’re resorting to what, I think, even they would acknowledge is an extraordinary step to change the status quo of the House of Representatives that prevents even consideration of common-sense gun safety legislation,” he said at the daily White House press briefing.

The protesting lawmakers are demanding a vote on the same Democratic legislation that was rejected by the Senate. President Obama also supported the measure that was offered in response to the terror attack in Orlando.

It was one of four gun-control measures, two by Democrats and two by Republicans, that were rejected in near-party-line votes this week.

The watch-list bill raised concerns among both gun-rights advocates and civil liberties activists because the government’s list is notoriously inaccurate and people on it could be denied their Second Amendment right without due process.

Mr. Earnest said the bill would not undermine Second Amendment rights but would make it harder for terrorist suspects to get their hands on weapons.

“It’s a common-sense proposition, it’s not controversial. And the Democrats, I think, are rightly frustrated that those kinds of proposals haven’t even been called up for a vote by the Republicans who are in charge of the Congress. And they are taking some extraordinary steps to try to change that,” he said.

Sen. Susan Collins, Maine Republican, is working on a compromise bill that would prohibit gun sales to the more narrow group of terror suspects on no-fly lists. However, she also is running into headwinds in Congress.

Mr. Earnest offered tepid support for Mrs. Collins’ effort, saying it was better to bar all the terrorist suspects than just some of them.

“I don’t really understand why we would prioritize the watered down version over the extra strength version. But that’s apparently the way the legislative process work,” he said.