Washington Examiner - "Gun Vote Rewards Dems for Bad Behavior"
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By Pete Kasperowicz
Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, said Wednesday that House Republicans shouldn't reward Democrats with a vote on guns this week after Democrats shut down the House in late June to protest the lack of gun control legislation.
"It absolutely should not," Gohmert said on C-SPAN when asked if the House should vote on gun control.
In the wake of the Democratic "sit-in," which forced the House to adjourn early in June, House GOP leaders have tried to set up a vote on a counterterrorism bill that includes gun language. That language would allow the government to delay gun purchases for people who end up on federal terrorism watch lists while officials try to prove they shouldn't own a gun.
Democrats aren't fans of the overall bill, and also oppose the gun language, which has already failed to advance in the Senate.
Still, Gohmert said even allowing that vote would only reward the Democrats' bad behavior.
"I thought it was outrageous that as a majority party we allowed the sit-in, in violation of massive numbers of rules, to go along unimpeded," he said.
"I was challenging the Sergeant At Arms, 'So, you only enforce rules against Republicans? Is that the deal now?'" he said. Gohmert went down to the floor to challenge Democrats during the sit-in.
"And he said, 'Well, when we tell the Republicans to stop violating the rules, you guys do. We've told them repeatedly, and they're not stopping their violation,'" Gohmert said.
Opposition to the vote this week from Gohmert and like-minded Republicans could be a factor that ends up scuttling the bill. On Tuesday, Republican leaders delayed action on the bill so Republicans could have more time to see it and understand what they were voting on.
But the delay could be a sign that Republicans aren't ready to move the bill, which could delay it again or force leaders to come up with another idea. GOP lawmakers were expected to meet Wednesday morning to discuss their reaction to the bill.
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