A year after Orlando Pulse nightclub shooting, we're going backward on guns
How many more times do we have to see the words 'mass' and 'shooting' next to each other before we take action? How young do the victims have to be before we take action?
Since June 12, 2016, the hometown that I love, Orlando, has had to bear the unfortunate title of home to the Nation’s deadliest mass shooting.
An Islamic State-inspired shooter went into a LGBTQ night club on “Latin Night” where people were gathering for what my bishop likes to call a late-night fellowship, and opened fire.
The people in the club didn’t stand a chance against the man with an assault rifle and a handgun.
In a matter of minutes the gunman was able to kill 49 people and wound many others, plus shatter lives and leave a scar on our community and our hearts forever.
I served in law-enforcement for 27 years, four years of that as the Chief of Police for the Orlando Police Department. Before being elected to Congress I spent most of my adult life wearing a uniform, a badge and carrying a gun.
I took an oath to protect the innocent from dangerous people. Many say guns don’t kill, but guns in the wrong hands do. As a law enforcement officer, I have seen more young victims of gun violence than I care to admit. I have also seen too many mothers, fathers and children who had to receive the bad news about their loved ones in the middle of the night.
This isn’t about taking guns away from responsible, law-abiding people, this is about keeping them out of the hands of people who seek to do harm — to themselves, to others, and to our communities. When the forefathers of our great nation wrote the Second Amendment they never intended for guns to be in the hands of felons, terrorists or the mentally ill.
During the past six years it’s been an uphill battle to see any change come from the mass shootings that have long-since become all too commonplace in our nation, from Sandy Hook to Aurora, to Virginia Tech, San Bernardino and Orlando.
This year, Congress overturned two regulations, thus making it easier for mentally ill individuals to purchase a firearm.
The first required the Social Security Administrationto notify the FBI of individuals who are unable to work because of severe mental impairment and cannot manage their own Social Security financial benefits.
The second required the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to similarly notify the FBI of disabled individuals who have an appointed financial steward. This is so critical because each day, 20 veterans take their lives, and the majority use firearms. I know that responsible gun owners agree with common sense gun legislation.
While the gun lobby, manufacturers, President Trump and others may call these “midnight regulations” — rules passed in the waning days of a departing president — their history goes back a decade. In the aftermath of the Virginia Tech shooting, the House and Senate unanimously passed the NICS Improvement Amendments Act of 2007, which required federal agencies to identify individuals who, under existing law, are prohibited from purchasing firearms. President George Bush signed it into law days later. Thank you, President Bush.
It’s remarkable how far we have come — not forward, but backward.
After the attack at the London Bridge, the president tweeted this: “Do you notice we are not having a gun debate right now? That’s because they used knives and a truck!”
To the president, I say if these men had guns, the number of casualties and the carnage would have likely been significantly worse. And the man in Orlando who just last week went into his former employer’s office in Orlando, had a gun and a knife. His weapon of choice was the gun. Guns in the wrong hands kill.
My first speech on the Floor of the House of Representatives, just days after being sworn-in, was not one I ever imagined I would have to give. I was honoring Orlando Police Master Sgt. Deborah Clayton, a friend and former co-worker, who was gunned down by a man who had just days before killed his pregnant ex-girlfriend. We lost 64 law enforcement officers to gun violence in 2016. That’s unacceptable.
How many more times do we have to see the words “mass” and “shooting” next to each other before we take action? How young do the victims have to be before we take action? How high does the victim count have to go before we take action?
I fear the answer to those questions is that for some politicians there is no tragedy too great to find the political courage necessary to stand up to the gun lobby and protect Americans.
Congress is preparing to vote on two more pieces of gun legislation in the coming months. The first would make it easier to buy a silencer. A lot has changed in the 83 years since silencers were first regulated under the same law as machine guns, but criminal intent to evade capture has not.
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The next legislation would force states to recognize conceal carry permits across state lines, even when a state has no requirement. This gross affront to states’ rights would allow domestic abusers, violent criminals and people untrained in even basic firearms safety to conceal a deadly weapon in every community in America. For law enforcement officers who must make split second decision when they encounter any armed individual, this is a particularly dangerous proposition.
As we reach the one-year mark since the Pulse massacre, the Orlando community continues to recover, but we are resilient. June 12, 2017 will be the day we come together for, “Orlando United – A Day of Love and Kindness.”
Our community will be remembered not for the shooting, but for our response to the shooting. We will stand for all of those who lost their lives, continue to comfort those who are still grieving for their loved ones, and support the survivors who continue to need us.
We live in the greatest nation in the world, where no one should fear the evil that visited Orlando on June 12th, 2016. I am committed to working with my colleagues and anyone who will stand up to reduce gun violence and stand up for safer communities. “Profiles of Courage?” I see it every day in my community and I know it exists on both sides of the aisle.
Democratic Rep. Val Demings is a former police chief of Orlando and represents the part of the city where the Pulse night club shooting happened. Follow her on Twitter @RepValDemings.
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