Dem rep mocks Ryan’s sit-in response

Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) on Thursday mocked Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) for criticizing a Democratic sit-in over gun control.

“To people who don’t know how to legislate, any effort to legislate looks like a publicity stunt, but that doesn’t make it so,” he said when asked about Ryan’s response to the protest by TMZ.

{mosads}Democrats on Wednesday seized the House floor in a dramatic sit-in highlighting their push for stricter gun control.

Ryan on Thursday slammed the move as self-serving, pointing to Democrats who were fundraising off the sit-in.

“They are not trying to get this done through regular order,” he told reporters during his weekly news conference.

“No, instead they are staging protests, they are trying to get on TV, they are sending out fundraising solicitations like this one,” Ryan added, holding up printouts of Democratic fundraising emails. “If this is not a political stunt, then why are they trying to raise money off of this, off of a tragedy?”

Democrats ended their demonstration later Thursday after more than 24 hours of media hype over their unusual act.

Grayson said after the event’s end that Democrats remain committed to solving violence from mass shootings.

“It’s too easy to kill too many people too quickly, and we have to change that to make people safe again,” said Grayson, who is running for Senate in Florida.

“Let’s make America safe again,” he added, playing off presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.

“These decisions are being made by the group, by the Democratic office collectively, so I’m not going to even pretend to speak for anybody else. But I’ll tell you that I believe we need to pick up where we left off when we get back and make sure we take action, concrete action, in order to be able to protect the American people.”

Congress is now on recess through Independence Day, with lawmakers planning on returning to Capitol Hill on July 5.