"Graham: Tell me what typically happens in the House after a mass shooting. What are these moments of silence like?
Himes: We’ve done a half-dozen of these already this year. As I told someone else yesterday, we should be shouting the names of the people who are killed in preventable violence, not standing there in some mock and tepid ritual of sanctity—this smug “We care” statement in the face of gross negligence. I’m not going to be part of it anymore...
Part of why I chose to use the language I did last night is that for some of these folks, you need to use almost Biblical language. I’ve been profoundly influenced—you’ll get a kick out of this, I’m a New England Democrat—but I’ve been profoundly influenced by Rev. Rob Schenck, the leader of a very aggressive pro-life movement. He comes out of that tradition of evangelical activism. He had an epiphany where he said there’s no way on God’s green earth that Jesus Christ, if we have any understanding of what he stood for, would tolerate what the Congress is complicit in. There’s a wonderful movie—if you haven’t seen it already you’ve got to see it, called The Armor of Light—and it’s how I met Rob, which traced his journey to this point. He says to his white Southern evangelicals, “This can’t possibly be what Jesus wants us to do.” So I’ve been profoundly influenced by this guy with whom I share almost nothing politically and his moral courage. I think it’s going to be strong moral language that wakes Congress from its torpor."
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