Top House Republicans Peter King and Diane Black Thursday bashed Democrats for their 25-hour demonstration for gun-control votes, with King saying that they held up similar legislation he introduced when their party controlled the chamber in 2007.
"The Democrats are totally hypocritical," King, who represents New York, told Brianna Keilar on CNN. "They controlled the House for the first four years that I had that bill — and the second two years, they controlled the presidency.
"They refused to move it. It never moved at all. It went nowhere," he added. "Now, suddenly, they are making it a big issue. There is a hypocrisy."
Black, of Tennessee, said that the sit-in was "beneath the dignity of this institution and lacks respect for Congress.
"I think this is unconscionable what they were doing," she told Brooke Baldwin, also on CNN. "There is a way for them to bring this to the floor."
Democrats ended their protest early Thursday after taking over the House about 11:30 a.m. the previous day, led by Georgia Rep. John Lewis.
They were demanding a vote on measures that would expand background checks and block gun purchases by some suspected terrorists.
King said that he believed that the House should have voted on the measures.
"The Republican Party, as an institution, has to realize that the American people do not want people on the terrorist watch list to be able to buy guns.
"Republicans raised the argument of due process. The fact is, there's a difference in due process between the person losing his liberty and a person having a reasonable restriction put on a right.
"And to me," King continued, "as long as there is reasonable belief that this person could be a terror suspect, the government has the absolute right and obligation to keep that person from getting a gun — and the court makes a final decision."
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