REP. THOMPSON STATEMENT ON HOUSE REPUBLICANS’ DECISION TO ADJOURN HOUSE WITHOUT A VOTE ON LEGISLATION TO PREVENT GUN VIOLENCE

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-5) today issued the following statement after Republican Leadership adjourned the House without taking a vote on legislation to prevent gun violence.

“For more than 16 hours my colleagues and I sat on the House floor. We sat and we held the floor because we’re done waiting for Speaker Ryan and Republican Leadership to give us a vote on legislation to prevent gun violence. But in an act of shameful cowardice, Republican Leadership refused to listen to the voices of the American people and in the middle of the night they cut and ran. House Republicans have adjourned the House – they chose to go home rather than allow us to take a vote on bipartisan, commonsense legislation to help keep guns from suspected terrorists, criminals, domestic abusers and the dangerously mentally ill. What could be so hard about letting the people’s House take a vote? What is the Republican Majority so afraid of?”

House Democrats staged a sit-in on the House floor for more than 16 hours to demand that Republican Leadership allow a vote on bipartisan, commonsense legislation to help keep guns out of dangerous hands. House Democrats called on Speaker Ryan and House Republicans to allow an immediate vote on two bills:

• The bipartisan King-Thompson legislation (H.R. 1217) to close a loophole in our background check system that allows criminals, domestic abusers and the dangerously mentally ill to bypass a background check in thirty-four states when purchasing guns online or at a gun show;
• The bipartisan ‘No Fly, No Buy’ bill (H.R. 1076) to prohibit individuals on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Terrorists Watchlist from being able to legally purchase guns.