House GOP Solves Gun Violence, By Fining Democrats Who Had Sit-In About Gun Violence

That'll learn 'em!

It took them a while, but House Republicans are finally taking some direct action in response to Democrats' June sit-in calling for a vote on gun safety measures like closing the gun-show loophole for background checks and barring sales of guns to those on terrorist watch lists. No, don't be silly, it's not any legislation on doing either of those things -- the GOP already blew away those proposals with extreme prejudice. But at least they're proposing rules to punish any more disruptive sit-ins, which are a threat to good order and getting work done in the House, at least during the few weeks each year the House actually "works."

You see, House Speaker Paul Ryan was deeply hurt by the Democrats' lack of decorum in their 25-hour sit-in, very deeply hurt, albeit not quite so literally as the dead and injured in the Pulse nightclub massacre, which sparked the Democrats' sit-in. He denounced it as a "publicity stunt" that was very disrespectful to the dignity of the House, and now he wants to punish any House member who livestreams video from the House floor after House leadership has ordered the CSPAN video feed cut off, because unlike 30,000 Americans dying by gunshot every year, this is something important that he can do something about:

Under the proposed new rules package, which was seen by Bloomberg, members could face a $500 fine through deductions to their paychecks for a first offense of using electronic photography or audio or visual recording, as well as for broadcasting from the chamber’s floor. A $2,500 fine would be leveled for the next such offense and each subsequent violation.

The new rules would also prohibit anyone from blocking access to microphones or to the "well" of the House chamber; such disruptions could result in a referral to the Committee on Ethics, with possible sanctions resulting, which ought to teach that troublemaker John Lewis a thing or two about ethics. A spokesperson for Ryan, AshLee Strong, explained in a statement the new rules would "help ensure that order and decorum are preserved in the House of Representatives so lawmakers can do the people’s work,” like eliminating Obamacare, privatizing Medicare, and letting Wall Street write all the banking regulations -- or repeal them, more like.

The new rules may -- or may not -- satisfy House Republicans who demanded investigations of the sit-ins last summer, maybe to see if Commies like Saul Alinsky (drink!) were behind them.

So far, at least one participant in the sit-in, California Democrat Rep. Eric Swalwell, is all defiant and stuff, taking to Twitter to say he's not scared, and perhaps to dare Republicans to say his name five times fast:

A spokesperson for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Drew Hammill, said in a statement the rules changes wouldn't make Democrats shut up, no, they would not:

Sadly, the first action of the new Congress will be the passage of rules changes targeting Democratic Members who participated in the 25-hour sit-in following the horrific Pulse shooting in Orlando that killed 49 and wounded more than 50 [...] House Republicans continue to act as the handmaidens of the gun lobby refusing to pass sensible, bipartisan legislation to expand background checks and keep guns out of the hands of terrorists.

Yr Wonkette has not yet seen an official response from the National Rifle Association which as far as we know is still working out a strategy to convince its members that even after Donald Trump is inaugurated, Barack Obama will nevertheless try to take Americans' guns away.

[ TPM / Bloomberg ]