thank you at home for staying with us for this special edition of the rachel maddow show. on the east coast you are watching dramatic coverage in the house of representatives going, and the democrats began to occupy the floor before noon on wednesday, and they are protesting the refusal of te aa

republicans refusing to take action. the house is not technically in session, although it is certainly active. technically these social media feeds are pirated, and you are not allowed to take video like this on a phone from the house floor but this is how democrats broadcasts their protests all day, and they want to vote on expanded background checks and democrats are saying if paul ryan, the speaker, does not schedule a vote on these provisions, these amendments then the house of representatives should not break for its planned summer recess, and they have been chanting on the floor, no bill, no break. and paul ryan came in and did something remarkable. he tried to basically convene the house for a vote but it was

on an entirely different legislative matter. house republicans turn the official cameras back on for that vote and here is the scene captured by those cameras, and it was dramatic. >> house in order. the chair wishes to make an announcement. the chair appreciates that members will differ on matters of policy and will seek to express those differences but the chair would hope that the business of the house can be conducted in a fashion that represents respect positively on the dignity and the decoram of this institution which we all belong. pursuant to the house, the unfinish business is further considerati consideration, and the clerk

will record the title of the joint resolution. >> what you could hear, that shouting on the floor is a violation of the rules of decoram, and the democrats say the key issue was gun control. house democrats after that moment we just showed you, they resumed the sit-in and broadcast of it, and that's what you are seeing now, and that's why we are now counting this 12 hours deep into the sit-in, and the democrats say they will stay as long as it takes tonight, tomorrow, and as long as it goes. and from the floor where they have been reporting the story it's a fluid situation tonight bit members are being advised by leadership to expect late-night, quote, substantive votes, and

those are votes on legislation. what is important to know about the unusual evening on the hill and what is the latest you are hearing? >> i think if we just fly at 30,000 feet for folks who watch this, who don't pay attention as closely as you and i do, there is no fill bester mechanism in the house of mechanism, so for a minority party to stage a protest, they can get 216 signatures to try and force a vote but as far as holding the floor hostage or not moving from the floor or refusing to remove from the floor until a vote is heard, that's unprecedented, and i think there's another element added to it because of the

cameras not being on and because of the house not being officially in session and because it is being transmitted through periscope and other social media, and much that is supportive of this, that this was really going against the grain, and this was breaking up the institution and rule. i think that's why they thing grew today. what would accomplish in order to get a vote on what the democrats want, which is what happened in the senate, increased background checks at gun shows and internet gun sales as well as the no fly no buy, you have to submit those amendments usually to a bill that goes through the house rules committee and that goes in the committee process, so it's harder to get something on the house floor if you are in the minority party because the majority party tables it and kills it and that's not the easiest thing to do and they are

trying to get ryan to agree on this and ryan after an emergency meeting made the decision, we're not going to allow this to happen and we are not going to set a precedent where the minority will hold the floor hostage every time they don't get what they want, and in this case there was a vote on the floor. what is going to happen for the rest of the evening? the republicans say, as you mentioned, there could be more substantive votes. there's a situation that is fluid. there's a few options they could do, they could go in there and move on something pertaining to the zika virus, which has been what the fundings levels are going to be on that, and they could even take all the business left of the week before they were slated to leave on friday, move it on the floor through the duration of the night so we are

here until 4:00 or 5:00 in the morning, and vote on everything, and then say we did everything on the calendar and everything passed out on the rules committee, and we are leaving and going on the break. we don't know what they are going to do precisely, bit i think it's safe to say they are going to respond to this protests, the longer it goes on, in a manner in which they feel empowers them, that will say we are not going to say and let it occur anymore. >> as you are speaking, we are watching this video that is not the authorized video of the house but is in itself a violation of the rules to be transmitted from the floor, the social media, and this is courtesy of a representative using the platform video service paeriscope to live broadcast this, and this has been a theme

of the night, photos of victims of gun violence, and holding up the names there, and to drill down on what you are saying, luke, the republicans want to wrap it up without moving towards any of the gun-related votes the democrats are pushing for. the democrats are saying this sit-in continues regardless, and what if there are nongun votes, and then what happens if the democrats stay on the floor and broadcast do they have interaction with police, does the lights stay on? does the place keep running? >> from the republican aides i have spoken to, they realize if they were to shut off the lights and air-conditioning, that would be a huge optics victory for the democrats, so they are not going to do that. if they were to reforcibly remove the democrats from the floor, they won't do that.

what they think their best course of action is, the democrats chose not to participate, and we did our jobs, and we are getting out of here, and if you have a problem with gun control amendments, follow the regular order and process. so that won't be, i think, after everything that has happened today, as satisfactory ending for the house democrats. how they land this plane will be interesting to see. they have been in the minority for a long time and passed over for a long time, and going back to january of 2011, they tried a bunch of different ways to protest things that were happening to them and none of it stuck. for whatever reason, this is grown out of frustration within the nation's population, and much of it within their constituencies in the house democratic districts and around

the country about the mass shooting problem is that uniquely an american phenomenon, and it seems this is goarnering support, and they want to see if they can make it move forward? >> you don't usually see the efforts of civil disobedience protests or quote, unquote, occupying done by members of the government. paul ryan and others pushed back calling it a publicity stunt, and whatever it is, it's certainly unusual. luke russert, thank you for your continued reporting on this. after the most recent massacre in orlando, jim heinz did something unexpected, just walked off the house floor during the congressional moment of silence and he explained why he chose to do that in an empassioned floor speech, and he said he was done with congress's moments of silence and they have

been held over and over and over again following our nations mass shootings and he said he was sick of it and wanted action. tonight there is certainly plenty of action, and joining us now is congressman jim heinz, democrat of connecticut. >> i think what is most likely to be achieved is the gal vanization of people who realize the way you solve the problem with guns and by the intensity problem you have a relatively small percentage of the american population who cares about this, they write the checks that are single issue voters, a lot of people are saying if we're going to pass legislation and this is what we're asking for tonight that is supported by 90% of the american back, universal background checks, no fly, no buy, we're going to need to generate enthusiasm. none of us are under the impression that the speaker is

going to cave to what we want him to do, but what wear doing, changing the conversation out there and at the end of the day public sentiment is everything. >> so when you're saying you're changing the conversation do you see this primarily as activism to effect the people watching in the rest of the country and not what happens actually inside the house? >> that's what i mean. it's going to take that change of conversation nationally and realistically it's going to take a change from conversation and as i said before galvanizing people to stand up for gun safety in those jurisdictions where republicans might be persuaded to come across the island, new hampshire, north korea, ohio, those purple states where if we can generate energy around enough things but common sense ideas if we can generate enough energy we can bring pressure on republicans who might feel it's not in their interests to support gun safety legislation. i think that is being achieved.

>> at the practical level of what it's been like there tonight can you walk us through how many hours were you on the floor, what was the mood like there? we saw some republicans who said hey, there is just rule-breaking and self-involved and anybody can do this and shut down the house at anytime and nothing would get done. did you see that as the main reaction or did anyone say this feels different tonight? >> i think everybody thinks it feels different. the republicans have said a lot of things tonight and if they want to say we're trying to bring attention to a problem they're right. most of us are sick and tired of having to go back to our constituents -- i live a few miles from sandy hook elementary school and tell people sorry, all we have a moment of silence. we're tired of doing that. so again we're not under any illusion that anything is going to change tonight. one other thing is john lewis led this effort. john lewis who crossed the

bridge in alabama and was nearly beaten to death by alabama state troopers he is leading this effort. we are breaking the rules and it's historic. he led this effort. there is nobody with the standing besides john lewis. john said that and we listened. >> a lot of other people are listening obviously sparking unusual debate about an issue that's been debated so many times before. thank you for your time tonight. we have more ahead including our conversation with the members of congress who started today's sit in. they talked to rachel and we're going to show that as long as the latest from the house floor. stay with us. why do people put milk on cereal? oh, are you reading why people put milk on cereal? why does your tummy go "grumbily, grumbily, grumbily"? why is it all (mimics a stomach grumble) no more questions for you!

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welcome back to the live

coverage, you see the live coverage here, approximately 150 to 350 peaceful protesters are still gathered outside in support of the effort. the protesters organized by moms demand action for gun sense in america have been khapbding alternating messages aimed at republicans and democrats. [ chanting ] >> hold the floor. hold the floor. >> you hear them calling for democrats to hold the floor and they've been greeted by several lawmakers leading the effort including congressman john lewis. >> by standing here tonight, standing with us, by being here you are bearing witness to the truth. you must never give up or give in or give out.

[ cheering ] >> congressman lewis speaking after the first vote we showed you earlier tonight. he was joined the massachusetts congressman who after the orlando shooting tweeting i know assault rifles. i carried one in iraq and they have no place on american streets. joining us now is congressman moulton. what you have been seeing there tonight? what happens next? how late are you staying up? >> we're going to stay as long as it takes. there's a lot of energy here but fundamentally the fact that we have to do this is sad because the republican leadership isn't allowing us to do our job, to have a debate and vote on these common sense measures that the vast majority of americans support. nine out of ten americans believe we ought to have universal checks on gun purchases. we ought to make terrorists on the no fly list aren't allowed

to buy guns. these are straightforward proposals. we're all supportive of the secretary amendment. no one is talking about aemding the constitution. >> when did you first hear about this happening? was it before it began? what was the reaction of democrats to this as an unusual strategy? >> we heard about it this morning as john lewis and katherine clark and others organized the sit-in and pretty quickly the majority of democrats came to the floor and stood together to demand action. >> i want to be clear because a lot of people are watching this you're telling me this plan came together live today, you hadn't

heard about this yesterday or last week or any planning? >> i had not heard about it before today, but the momentum certainly building after the horrific tragedy in orlando is palatable. we heard from our constituents and heard from the people that we represent, that standing around in moments of silence is not enough and we need to take action to keep our communities safe. we're not talking about radical measures here. we're talking about things that not only the vast majority of americans support but the majority of nra members support. i've heard from republicans tonight that the reason they won't call a vote on these bills is because nra leadership is opposed and they campaign to try to kick republicans out of office who don't vote the way they want is too much to stand up to. >> you talk about your military service in the context of this issue.

of course in the military you have a chain of command, you have a inform code of justice and an incredible approach to rules. a lot of people are saying that the house needs a serious approach of rules and that if this sit in or protest or as paul ryan has called a publicity stunt were met with a different vote it would only reward more an arkansas key in an institution that is broken. what do you say to that? >> would paul ryan call the sit ins in the 1960s a publicity stunt. there are times when you need to stand up, times when you need to demand action and when the leadership is not there and speaker ryan is not being a leader of the house and refusing to stand up to the nra and

simply awill youing a debate or vote on these issues. this is unusual. this isn't something that i've certainly seen in my time here. colleagues have never seen it as well but extraordinary times demand extraordinary measures and that's where we are today. >> extraordinary times. thank you for calling in from the cloakroom there and sharing with us what you are seeing there tonight. our coverage continues live in just a moment. >> you know what, today all of america gets to see this.

>> our special coverage continues. we looking at the congressman addressing supporters. let's listen in live. >> it won't be us that does it. it won't be us. it will be you. what's happening right now is as we're speaking on the floor one at a time, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people, millions of people are communicating with one another about what is happening here. that's how we're going to change this debate. some of the families -- i'm here representing crosby, a young man

from samichigan who took time o and travelled to orlando and lost his life, a young man from my district, from michigan, i am here for him. i'm hear for him. and this is hard. >> this is the congressman from michigan. he was talking about members of his constituency who have lost family members to gun violence as he addresses what looks to be a fairly organic group of supporters around the capital. we have live footage from social media of the ongoing sit in and conversation on the house floor. we are waiting to see tonight whether republicans come through and hold more votes as they've advised members they might, meaning that shot from periscope

may start back up. you see that live shot. a lot more to be determined here. we are going to continue the live special coverage and after the break show you rachel maddow's interview with congressman john lewis straight ahead.

welcome back to the continuing coverage of this unprecedented sit-in by house democrats. democrats are more than 13 hours into this protest. the house does not have any kind of filibuster. there's not a tradition or a

mechanism so there's no rules for how long a protest like this might go on or how to shut something like this down as the protest is stretched into hour upon hour. the effect has been felt beyond the capitol. earlier tonight rachel maddow talked to the democratic lawmakers who launched this entire sit-in. watch. >> thank you so much for having us. congratulations on the success of the effort so far. >> thank you rachel. >> congressman lewis, let me start with you. i know what you've said today about what your aim is here and what moved you to do this. what specifically do you want in order to consider this action successful? what would trigger an honorable reasonable successful end to

this as far as you're concerned. >> it is my desire and the desire of my colleagues and all of us on the democratic side for the speaker and the leadership of the republicans to bring a bill. bring a bill to the floor and give us a vote. let us vote. vote for the american people. vote for the little children. vote for our mothers and our fathers, our sisters and brothers. vote for the people who died, who were hurt in orlando. that's all we're asking for. nothing more, nothing less. >> congresswoman clark, i understand that part of the reason this happened today is that you felt frustrated after orlando that congress wasn't doing enough, that you contacted congressman lewis and the two of you came up with this plan together. is that an accurate depiction of what happened and where did you, how did you come up with this

specifically? >> specifically it came from congressman lewis who when i approached him on the floor to say how much i wanted to end the silence in congress, that i couldn't take any more moments of silence that weren't followed by action on behalf of grieving parents and grandparents and the american public, we have do something and john lewis in his way incredible generous person he is said he wanted to do something dramatic and that he was in. i knew that if we have john lewis, the icon of the civil rights era, the conscious of congress to partner with so many others wanted to join immediately and worked over the weekend to plan and pull this together. so it may have been a conversation that i started with mr. lewis but this is really on behalf of the caucus for the

american people. >> when we talk about that planning over the weekend, let me ask you about one specific part of this. part of the drama today when was the c-span cameras turned off because the republicans gavelled the house into recess. c-span doesn't control the cameras. those cameras are on when the house majority, the republicans want them to be on. in terms of your planning did you know that was going to happen? did you have a plan to work around in terms of members of congress streaming video from the floor and sending out pictures from the floor? was that an improvised tactic when this happened and it was a surprise to you. >> we thought it would happen, but the fortunately we have some very tech savvy members of congress who were able to put it on periscope and allow c-span to film that but we have been filming and taking pictures on the floor to try and capture this moment for the american people because we had hoped they would leave the microphones on,

but they didn't. and we needed to be able to have the american people understand that all we're asking for is a vote on two very common sense measures. >> congressman lewis, you are frequently described as a civil rights icon, including by your colleague there with you tonight. i know from your history you're an expert tact tissue in terms of civil rights. how long should this go on? how long are you prepared to go and how do you see it ending if congressman -- speaker paul ryan decides not to allow a vote? >> we're prepared to stay here as long as as it takes. we are saying no vote, no break, that if we cannot have a vote, then we shouldn't break within we should just stay here. i've said to some of my colleagues that we're anchored. we shall not be moved like a

tree planted by the rivers of waters. i remember during the sit-ins of the 1960s when someone would ask john who should we do, i said we must find a way to dramatize the issue, make it real, make it plain, make it simple so we can educate and inspire the american people. >> congressman john lewis and mrs. clark, good luck tonight and let us know how things go. thank you. >> thank you. that was rachel's interviews with the organizers of the sit in. we're told there will be more votes within the next hour and

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we're looking at live footage of nancy pelosi and supporters gathered outside the capitol singing we shall overcome. let's listen in for a moment. ♪ we shall live in peace. we shall live in peace someday. ♪ ♪ oh, deep in my heart ♪ i do believe ♪ we shall live in peace some day ♪ that was the same song that members of congress sang on the house floor during the contested

vote tonight when paul ryan sought to move beyond the sit in. we're watching as nancy pelosi addresses the crowd. let's listen to that. >> you never know, nancy, you never know. >> some of my members have said this evening this is a matter of great pride for all of us. pride in all of you. and the time that we have taken and the stories you have shared and the hope you have given us by coming out and reaching out by making this debate on the floor which without you and without the social media and without the technology of periscope this would be unrecorded because they turned off the microphones but we raised our voices. they turned off the cameras and we went to periscope. they shut down the debate and

they tried to shut down the congress, but because of you the debate on the floor of congress is a debate heard around the world. your communications have amplified our voices and we try to amplify yours because we have that chance to speak on the floor, but no good thing happens in the congress without inside maneuvering. the outside mobilization is essential to success for anything great to happen and that mobilization combined with social media and combined with people, people in their homes who aren't activists and have never showed up at at rally but wonder what they can do to make

congress act when something is self-evident that people who are on the no fly list should not be able to buy a gun, no fly, no buy, background checks so they do not have guns, supported by 85%, 90% of the american people, democrats, republicans, independents, national rifle association gun owners. veterans. veterans support what we are doing here. gun owners and hunters support that. i'm looking at the capitol and i remember my grandson said when the skafl olds are up said it looks like the capitol is sick. hopefully the capitol is getting well because of all of you.

i sat on the floor earlier and i'll say to you people say where can we find hope. hope is where it has always been. sitting right between safe and love. we believe that something better can happen because of the love that we have for each other as human beings and the charity we want to extend, we're doing that by your presence here tonight. the face and the love that all of you gives people hope, you give us hope. you give us hope by turning out. so i don't know what will happen tonight. we hear that they're going to bring a bill to the floor, adjourn and vote on that bill and adjourn and then leave town,

and that would be an act of cowa cowa cowards. [ cheering ] >> i hope they rethink that because no matter what they do we will be here. >> you give us hope. >> thank you. democratic leader nancy pelosi there still speaking and addressing the crowd after singing we shall overcome and leading them in a chant. she broke a little news there saying she is hearing republicans will try to hold more votes tonight and then adjourn. that will be their response to

this unprecedented sit in at this moment, 12:44 on the east coast as this moment the sit in continues as we can show you there on the side of your screen where you have members of congress still speaking and nancy pelosi speaking outside. she said republicans will try to hold another vote tonight and leave town after that and that is the way they will try to wrap up this sit in. democrats say they will sit on the floor and pelosi added that this would be an act of cowardness if that's what republicans do and you see there with the crowd. we're going to take a quick break and return. it's not normal to have members past midnight addressing what is mostly looks like a spontaneous gathering. more right after a break.

we are looking at a live shot of the sit-in of the gun control occurring on the floor of the house of representatives. he is one of the members -- this is a view from periscope because the house shut down the normal video system. mark is speaking broadcast a lot of this through facebook live to

live stream from the floor and he is making the case for gun control. we will as we have throughout the night will dip in when we hear certain parts. we saw nancy pelosi address folks outside. i want to turn now to some of our guests. how often do you see a sit in like this? >> not very often. as you know, you know, it's really a historic moment. i have been working in the gun violence prevention field for 16 years now and we've never seen a day like this. it feels like a democracy spring moment is happening now. there's a shift in the politics on the issue. the energy level that we're seeing in our supporters is just incredible right now. even more so than after sandy hook. i really do think that something

special is happening right now. >> as a congressional expert here we don't have a lot of precedent for how you resolve a sit in on the floor because it is so rare. we know the speaker has tremendous power to hold votes or not hold them, to recess congress as he sees fit. what else should happen tonight as we're advised and nancy pelosi told folks outside that there could be votes within the next 40 minutes. >> we saw one vote happen while the house democrats were on the floor and what the speaker did was gavel in, call the vote and they had the vote and some of the protesters did vote and he kept going and they said okay the house is in recess again. so that seems like a pattern that may be followed if they decide to adjourn then the question is do the house democrats stay if they turn the lights out and close the doors? it's not impossible for them to stay on the floor as we move past that but then the house will be in recess and they're supposed to be gone for a week

and if they decide to stay they can do that but we're not sure what they decide to do. this isn't a recess but it's done for the session. >> if you have that kind of standoff even if that does go several days what happens when they come back. what's to assume that house democrats would want a fresh slate. what happens to get this back to regular order? >> things can start with regular order and then they can go afield if somebody ends -- the way things happened today. nobody really not very many people knew this was planned ahead of time. they started when a group of them went to the floor for a speech that became something that was longer and grew and the house tried to gavel into a regular session around noon today that lasted for about three minutes before they decided they couldn't compete with the democrats in the center of the house floor and calling for gun control votes. we could see a repeat of that or there could be something else

that happens. this is unprecedented so we're not sure what the rule book is but certainly this has shown there's opportunity to take over the space on the house floor without much organization, without much -- without too many hurdles and it's possible to do once. we haven't gotten to the point where the sergeant in arms has gotten involved. >> we're looking at more live footage. this is happening right now. supporters and protesters outside the capitol. earlier we showed her live remarks. again you don't usually see members of congress close to 1:00 in the morning walk around the capitol doing meet and greets. this is an unusual night. the other question is what difference does it make if folks in your side on the gun control

side they already have nine out of ten voters for background checks, if you already have widespread public support what do the takeaways and messages of tonight do? >> i think this leadership that we've seen from first senator murphy on the senate side and now you have an icon like john lewis leading the sit in today what you need to understand is this is generating an enormous amount of pressure on speaker ryan and republicans and i'm not talking about democrats i'm talking about republicans to do something on this issue. they are receiving an enormous number of calls. i suspect they are under a tremendous amount of pressure. i think we saw that in terms of how speaker ryan forced that

vote thinking he could walk into the chamber and hush this up in a hurry and it totally went against him. >> it was an usual way to run the vote. i want to get back because we have more news. thank you for joining us tonight. we're going to reset and come back with more news on those votes tonight. we'll be right back. >> research to be conducted and for me personally to ban assault weapons. what's at stake.

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our live coverage continues. this is the 14th hour and we go california congresswoman who stepped away from the floor to speak with us. what do you think is the takeaway from tonight? >> i think the big takeaway is you have a democratic caucus that is completely committed to staying here and continuing this protest until we get a vote on three very sensible bills. it's really outrageous. we have been here for 14 hours. i've been here the entire time. the fact that we need to have such an incredible demonstration in order to get the house to basically do its job. >> what do you think of the way paul ryan handled the the last vote and we're told within the

next ten minutes he's going to have another. >> i think he wa probably was overwhelmed by the response he had. i don't know if he expected to walk into the floor and expect for all of us to sit down and be quiet. i don't think he thought that but i did think he probably could get control and that did not happen and you will see on the next vote you will see the same demonstration take place. we don't plan on going anywhere. if for some reason they shut the house down and turn off the lights, i guarantee you we will be back here first thing in the morning. >> you're pledging to demonstrated on the floor again. what do you say to those who say that is a violation of the rules for the house that you previously supported. >> sometimes you have to cause trouble. if what you are doing does not produce results then you have to do something dramatically different and that's what you see us doing today. john lewis talks about getting into good trouble and i think today is a perfect example of that. >> thank you for joining us.

we are going to continue our live coverage including that upcoming vote of a short break. ♪

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introducing rhinocort® allergy spray from the makers of zyrtec®. powerful relief from your most frustrating nasal allergy symptom* ,all day and all night. hasn't your nose been through enough already? try new rhinocort® allergy spray. muddle no more® it's thursday, june 23rd, right now on "first look" -- house fight. congressional democrats organize a sit-in demanding a vote on gun control measures. >> not next year, but now! today. >> this is nothing more than a publicity stunt. that's point number one. >> ladies and gentlemen, it would be legislative malpractice for us not to deal with these issues. donald trump with a blistering critique of hillary clinton, but was it accurate? ghostly images from the front lines of blazing western infernos tearing tar