Rep. John Lewis remarks on 26-hour sit-in at Capitol

ATLANTA - Georgia Congressman John Lewis returned to Atlanta on Monday after his recent 26-hour sit-in at Capitol Hill fighting for a vote on gun control.

The Civil Rights leader talked to FOX 5’s Deidra Dukes about the Democrat’s efforts.

“There comes a time when you have to find a way to dramatize an issue to make it real and that's what we were doing in Washington a few days ago and that struggle isn't over it's an ongoing effort,” said Rep. Lewis.

The Congressman reflected on last week's protest during a public appearance in Atlanta on Monday. House Democrats staged a 26-hour sit-in on the House Floor in a failed effort to try to force a vote on controversial gun control measures in the wake of the deadly mass shooting in Orlando.

“This is not the end this is just the down payment till we get the congress to bring forth major piece of legislation to end the proliferation of guns in our country,” said Lewis.

Democrats are pushing legislation that would require expanded background checks and to block sales to people on the government's no-fly list. The protests followed live worldwide via social media after republican cameras ordered house cameras off, they evoked comparisons to the Congressman's early days as a young Civil Rights leader, staging protests and sit-ins in the fight against racial injustice.

“Sometimes, as I've said before, you have to find a way to get in the way or make a way out of no way and get in what I call ‘good trouble,’ ‘necessary trouble’ to highlight a position,” said Lewis.

The Congressman responded to critics including House Speaker Paul Ryan who called the House sit-in little more than a publicity stunt.

“It reminds me of another period we heard Southern Governors Lester Maddox and George Wallace saying that the sit-in, the Freedom Ride, the March from Selma was a political stunt,” said the Congressman.