A day after a mass shooting in Orlando, Democratic lawmakers erupted on the House floor with loud criticism of House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., and other Republican leaders for leaving the nation's gun laws untouched.
The disruption came after Rep. Jim Clybu, D-SC, attempted to ask Ryan on the floor when bills curbing gun use would be considered after the House paused for 16 seconds to honor those killed in the terror attack. Clybu was going to note that Friday is the one-year aiversary of the Charleston, S.C. mass shooting.
Before Clybu could finish, Ryan ruled his question out of order and directed the House to move to the next vote.
Some protested by leaving the House floor during a moment of silence honoring the victims, while other Democrats yelled "Where's the bill?" and "No leadership!"
After the disruption, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi told reporters Democrats have "had enough" of moments of silence after mass shootings when Congress does not act to tighten gun laws.
A handful of Democrats left the House floor during the moment of silence, including Coecticut Rep. Jim Himes. Himes said earlier Monday in an interview that he's done with the moments of silence typically held on the House floor after mass shootings, calling them "obnoxious expressions of smug incompetence." His district is close to Newtown, where a gunman killed 20 first-graders and six adults at an elementary school in 2012.
Leaving the House chamber, Ryan, R-Wis., declined to comment on the exchange. Ryan spokeswoman AshLee Strong tweeted that Democrats were politicizing the moment of silence, and called that "disheartening."
Himes is not the first Democrat to complain about the ritual. When a moment was held to honor victims of a deadly shooting rampage in San Beardino, Califoia, in December, several Democrats criticized it.
"We need to stand up, speak up, and take actions rather than another moment of silence," said Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Ill., in a House floor speech at the time. "It is deafening, and it is killing us."
Fox News' Chad Pergram and the Associated Press contributed to this report