ORLANDO, Fla. — Early Sunday morning, a 29-year-old man now identified as Omar Mateen killed 50 people and wounded 53 others in a terrorist attack on a gay nightclub in downtown Orlando. The attack was the deadliest on American soil since 9/11.
Before he began his rampage, Mateen called 911 and pledged allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, NBC News reported. Such reports of the influence of radical Islamic terror have been confirmed by CNN.
In response, President Barack Obama made a statement before the press corps where he called for stricter gun-control laws, but did not mention Islamic terror or ISIS by name.
“The shooter was apparently armed with a handgun and a powerful assault rifle,” the President said. “This massacre is therefore a further reminder of how easy it is for someone to get their hands on a weapon that lets them shoot people in a school, or in a house of worship, or a movie theater, or in a nightclub. And we have to decide if that’s the kind of country we want to be.”
“We are still learning the facts. This is an open investigation,” he continued. “We have reached no definitive judgment on the precise motivations of the killer.”
Members of Alabama’s congressional delegation have issued statements of their own in light of the tragedy. Each of their statements in some way notes that terrorism, not gun control, is the root of the problem.
Robert Aderholt (R-AL4) wrote, “I was sad to hear about the terrorist attack in Orlando, on American soil. This and other attacks we have seen, prove that we do not have the luxury of debating the political correctness of ‘radical Islam ‘. We need to focus on these and other terrorists and do whatever it takes to identify and hunt down those who would do us harm.”
He then went on to take a swipe at the President for using the tragedy to push an Anti-Second Amendment agenda. “It was disheartening to hear some in the media, and even the President in his initial remarks, use this tragedy as a means to push any type of political agenda relating to gun control. Terrorists by their very definition are criminals and will find a way get their hands on guns. What the president is proposing would take guns away from the very people who would defend themselves.”
“The tragedy in Orlando is a strike at every American. Our hearts go out to the wounded and their families, but most especially to the family and loved ones of all who were killed,” wrote Congressman Bradley Byrne (R-AL1). “There is no room for hate in America, and this ugly crime is the result of a coward following his own hate. It doesn’t matter what the source of that hate was – it was and is an affront to God himself.”
Congresswoman Martha Roby (R-AL2) said, “I’m horrified and heartbroken by the terrorist attack in Orlando. I’m praying for the victims and their families, and I ask others to send prayers of comfort and healing for everyone affected.”
“This is the worst terrorist attack on American soil since September 11, 2001,” she noted. “Though reports on the killer’s ties to specific groups still coming in, we must fully dispel the notion that our struggle against radical Islamic terrorism is solely an overseas fight. That fight is here in the Homeland, and all American leaders must come to grips with it.”
This article will be updated as more reactions are released.
