Lawmakers in the Senate did not pass a bipartisan proposal Thursday to enforce stringent background checks prior to firearm purchase.
The bill needed 60 yeas to pass, but topped out at 54 yea, 46 nay.
Two women who were particularly angered by this shouted, "shame on you!" from the wings.
Vice President Joe Biden, who was presiding over the Senate, called for silence and order, hitting his small white gavel against the podium.
The women were escorted from the premises, reports CNN.
They were Patricia Maisch of Tucson, Arizona and Lori Haas of Richmond, Virginia, and they claim they had reason to shout, as their lives were touched specifically by rampant gun violence.
Maisch said she pried the gun magazine from the clutches of a man who shot then-Rep. Gabby Giffords and several other people.
Haas' daughter, Emily, was shot during the Virginia Tech massacre. Luckily, she lived, but the scars still remain.
"We are sick and tired of the death in this country and these legislators stand up there and think it's a bunch of numbers," she told the press. "There's been 187,000 Americans killed since Virginia Tech. My daughter was shot and injured six years ago yesterday. It's...appalling, it's disgusting."
Many Americans feel it is extraneous to own large assault rifles if they are not hunting or using them to shoot for sport-not to mention the ease with which any citizen can acquire these kinds of weapons.
Obama echoed these sentiments in a speech he made following the vote.
Flustered, frustrated, stuttering, the President called the decision "shameful," as he stood, flanked by Vice President Joe Biden who silently shook his head.
"All that happened today was the preservation of the loophole that lets dangerous criminals buy guns without a background check," Obama said. "That doesn't make our kids safer...it begs the question, who are we here to represent?"
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