Rep. Tom Cole accused House Democrats Thursday of exploiting the Orlando shooting for political gains by staging a 1960s-style sit-in on the chamber floor to demand a vote on new gun laws.
“It’s a situation where the Democrats have exploited this tragedy for political purposes,” Mr. Cole, a member of the House Republican leadership team, said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program.
“It’s very unfortunates, especially when it damages the institution of the House itself,” said the Oklahoma Republican.
Lawmakers at the sit-in, which began Wednesday afternoon and continued overnight intoThursday morning, are demanding a vote on the same Democratic legislation that was rejected this week in a near-party line vote the Senate.
The bill would prohibit gun sales to people on the government’s terror watch list. But the measure raised concerns among both gun-rights advocates and civil liberty activists because the watch list is notoriously inaccurate and people on it could be denied their Second Amendment right without due process.
Rep. John Lewis, a Georgia Democrat and civil rights hero who helped launch the sit-in, was once on the watch list.
“It’s worth noting that had any of these laws passed, it would not have stopped anything that happened in Orlando,” said Mr. Cole. “That’s the sad truth here. So the idea that there is some magic legislative fix to what is a deep social, cultural problem I think is an illusion.”
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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