Democrats in the US Congress are refusing to leave the floor of the House of Representatives in order to force a vote on gun control laws.
Nearly 100 lawmakers are staging the protest, demanding expanded background checks and the blocking of gun sales to terror suspects.
It follows the shooting of 49 people at a nightclub in Florida this month.
Republicans, who control Congress, called a recess which forced the cameras to be switched off.
So the protesters took their message online. Some are tweeting pictures and one Congressman is "broadcasting" via streaming app Periscope.
The effort is being led by John Lewis, a veteran of the civil rights movement of the 1960s.
Four bills since the attack in Orlando have failed to pass the Senate, but a compromise bill with some support from both parties is due to come before the Senate on Thursday.
President Barack Obama took to Twitter to thank Mr Lewis "for leading on gun violence where we need it most".
Legislators chanted "no bill, no break" and sang 1960s protest songs.
"What has this body done?'' to respond to the violence, Mr Lewis asked, referring to several failed efforts in the past week to pass a gun control bill.
"Nothing. We have turned a deaf ear to the blood of innocents. We are blind to a crisis. Where is our courage? How many more mothers... and fathers need to shed tears of grief?"
"Rise up Democrats, rise up Americans,'' Connecticut Representative John Larson said to his colleagues.
Connecticut is the state where 20 children and six adults were shot to death in 2012 at the Sandy Hook primary school.
"We will occupy this chamber," Mr Larson told his colleagues before cameras switched off.
A spokesperson for Paul Ryan, the Speaker of the House, tweeted: "The House cannot operate without members following the rules of the institution, so the House has recessed subject to the call of the chair."
The lawmakers want a vote to be held before the scheduled break at the end of the week, ending on 5 July.
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