Rebellious Democrats took over the US House of Representatives, refusing to budge from the well before the rostrum until the majority Republicans agree to put gun control legislation up for a vote.  This is an historic act of civil disobedience by the Democrats that has left the Republicans stymied and confused on how to respond.

"I don't know how many of us or all of us are going to stay," said the legendary Chicago progressive Rep. Jan Schakowsky, "But my plan is I have a blankey."

Led by Civil Rights Movement veteran Rep. John Lewis of Maryland, the Democrats struck on Wednesday morning by shouting down Republican leaders' efforts to gavel the House into session with chants of "No bill, no break", vowing to prevent the House from going on break at the end of the week.  They prevented the GOP from conducting regular business for most of the day.

The Republicans attempted to silence the protest by cutting off the CCTV feed from the House chamber, but the Dems - who actually live in the 21st Century - used their mobile phones to set up live video feeds on the Internet.  The government cable TV channel C-Span then began broadcasting coverage of the sit-in using the Internet instead of the CCTV feed.

Late into the night, House Speaker and Republican congressman from Wisconsin Paul Ryan attempted to gavel in a session to deal with other business; incredibly, to try and stop President Obama from requiring financial advisors to act in the best interests of their clients instead those of their banks.  But the Democrats drowned him out with more chants of "no bill, no break", and by singing the Civil Rights-era anthem "We Shall Overcome" - replacing the second stanza with "We Shall Pass a Bill".

As the Democrats maintained their protest, supporters gathered outside, and some of protest leaders such as Rep. John Lewis and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi went out to thank them.

"By standing here tonight, by standing with us, you're bearing witness to the truth; you must never ever give up or give in or give out," said Rep. Lewis, "We got to stop the violence and do something about the proliferation of guns."

At one point, the Texas Republican often recognized as the stupidest man in the House, Rep. Louie Gohmert, tried to interrupt the sit-in by walking in and inexplicably shrieking, "Radical Islam!  Radical Islam!"  Apparently, the people of Texas believe that merely being a bipedal mammal is all you need to serve in the US Congress.  Fellow Republican imbecile Rep. Steve King of Iowa stepped in between Gohmert and the Democrats, claiming he was afraid it would turn into a physical fight.

The Republicans are unlikely to shut off the lights and air conditioning, and hand the Democrats a optical victory.  For the same reason, the GOPs probably won't send in the House Sergeant At Arms to physically remove their rivals - the US is crazy, but it's not yet Ukraine or South Africa. 

Late into the night, the Republicans were not budging and the Democrats vowed to stay.

All of this is happening, because the Republicans refuse to defy their major campaign contributors in the National Rifle Association (NRA) which opposes any form of gun control, no matter how many Americans are slaughtered on a daily basis.