John Lewis on possible punishment for gun safety sit-in: 'Bring it on'

By Joan McCarter
Thursday Sep 22, 2016 · 11:58 AM EDT

Speaker Paul Ryan has been under pressure from his own basket of deplorables to do something to punish the House Democrats for their dramatic sit-in for gun safety legislation on the House chamber floor last June. The leader of that effort, the conscience of the Congress, is daring Ryan to do it.

Rep. John Lewis said Wednesday night that he’s unafraid of any punishment after Democrats occupied the House of Representatives floor this summer to call for a vote on tougher gun control measures.
“My feeling is, I’ve been punished before. If they want to punish us, bring it on,” Lewis (D-Ga.) said. “If we violated the rules, the tradition of the House, the order of the House, punish us. We’re ready to be punished and then we’ll see what happens.”

Lewis, who was chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee during the civil rights movement of the 1960s, said at a POLITICO Playbook cocktail event that he’s received significant public support since leading Democrats in a sit-in on the House floor. He called on his colleagues not to fear the National Rifle Association and to put gun control legislation up for a vote.

With the National Museum of African-American History and Culture scheduled to open this weekend, Lewis recalled attending sit-ins in Nashville as a young man, where he said he had hot coffee poured on his head and lit cigarettes extinguished in his hair. He said touring the museum was like “walking through history. I did everything possible not to cry.”
So do your worst, Paul Ryan. You'll look like the petty tyrant you want to be in return.

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/9/22/1573039/-John-Lewis-on-possible-punishment-for-gun-safety-sit-in-Bring-it-on