At least 80 Democratic members of the House have "erotice female domination" cbtgone old-school, occupying the floor of the chambers with a sit-in to protest the Republican majority's inaction on gun control.
And you can only see it on social media.
SEE ALSO: A week after Orlando shooting, four gun control bills fail in U.S. SenateThe Democrats are seeking a vote on gun control measures in the wake of the attack at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando on June 12, which killed 49 people.
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"Mr. Speaker, let's do the right thing," California Rep. Ami Bera said from the House floor on Wednesday. "Let's prevent that next tragedy. Let's save that next life."
Since it began Wednesday morning with approximately 30 representatives, the action has grown to around 170 representatives and 20 senators, according to House staff-- but you might never have known it. Media on the scene is not allowed to broadcast from the chamber because the House is technically in recess.
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Media organizations including C-SPAN are not able to broadcast the scene because the House was not gaveled into session.
At one point, C-SPAN resorted to airing a live Periscope feed from Rep. Scott Peters of California.
SEE ALSO:Democrats end filibuster after GOP agrees to allow votes on two gun control proposals
Journalists are in the press area, but they are restricted from sending out any visual media of the event.
That's not true of the members of Congress, who have turned to social media tools to bring much-needed visuals to the story.
Representative Charles Rangel used Periscope to broadcast the scene, while others tweeted and posted images to Facebook.
The social media blitz worked. As of Wednesday afternoon, #NoBillNoBreak was the top trending topic in the U.S.
Via GiphyC-SPAN has no control over the U.S. House TV cameras.
— CSPAN (@cspan) June 22, 2016
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Journalists expressed frustration about the inability to broadcast from the House chamber, but they risk removal and loss of their press credentials if they begin to send out visuals.
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With the cameras off, cable news coverage switched back and forth between covering the sit-in and not. But as members of congress began to tweet and Periscope their protest, others on Twitter picked up what was happening.
More politicians, activists and others began tweeting using, primarily, the hashtag #NoBillNoBreak, a reference to passing a gun control bill.
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As the hashtag began to trend more heavily, cable news channels had no choice but to pick up whatever video they could. They reran blurry pictures tweeted by the accounts of members of congress and sent reporters out to grab individual interviews with members of the sit in.
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Among those leading the sit-in is Georgia Democrat John Lewis, who helped pioneer the nonviolent sit-ins that helped jumpstart the civil rights movement of the 1960s.
We've had almost all if not all of @HouseDemocrats. Currently @ least 3/4 of Caucus & many Senators. #NoBillNoBreak pic.twitter.com/70zlL8edLv
— Rep Donna F Edwards (@repdonnaedwards) June 22, 2016
The amount of attention caused some Republican members of Congress to respond.
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It's an unusually dramatic action by a group of elected officials at the highest level of government in decades, and it comes two days after the Senate failed to pass any gun control measure after a series of four votes.
Democrats in Congress hope to rally enough votes to pass two specific gun control bills, similar to ones that failed to get enough support on Monday.
One would expand and strengthen universal background checks for potential gun buyers, while the other would prevent those on a terrorist watch list from purchasing guns. That bill has been referred to as "no fly, no buy."
"All we're asking for today is a first step," Oregon Rep. Suzanne Bonimici said. "No fly, no buy. Good grief, why can't we get that passed? Why can't we just bring that up for a vote, Mr. Speaker?"
Colin Daileda contributed reporting.
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