Early this morning a 29-year-old Florida man with an explosive device strapped to his chest, an automatic weapon and a handgun walked into an Orlando nightclub frequented by the LGBT community and proceeded to conduct what some have called “the worst mass shooting in the history of the United States.”
Via NBC News:
Omar Mir Seddique Mateen, 29, believed to be the man responsible for what has been described as “the worst mass shooting in the history of the United States.”
Officials said a hostage situation developed after the gunman stormed the Pulse Nightclub about 2 a.m.
The shooter was identified by several law enforcement sources as Omar Mateen, 29.
He was shot dead about three hours later when a SWAT team entered the club, police said. A handgun and AR-15-type rifle were recovered at the scene, according to police.
The law enforcement sources told NBC News that Mateen was born in New York in 1986 and was listed as living at a residence in Port St. Lucie, about 125 miles south of Orlando.
Mateen had active security officer and firearm licenses, according to Florida records, and his family said he worked in security. Marriage records show he was married in Port St. Lucie in 2009, and a relative said he had a 3-year-old son.
The incident is being investigated as an act of terrorism, officials said.
Mir Seddique, Mateen’s father told NBC News, “this has nothing to do with religion.” Seddique said his son got angry when he saw two men kissing in Miami a couple of months ago and thinks that may be related to the shooting.
“We are saying we are apologizing for the whole incident. We weren’t aware of any action he is taking. We are in shock like the whole country,” Seddique said. Read More…
Law enforcement officials told ABC News that Mateen’s parents were born in Afghanistan, and he was “on the radar” of U.S. officials for some time, but was not the target of a specific investigation.
Also a public records search shows that he has been a registered Democrat for the last nine years.
So of course this must be the fault of those crazy gun totin,’ bible thumpin’ Christian Conservatives. At least that is what those on the left and many in the media will try to say in the next few days as they call for gun control.
The question I ask is, how would have “stricter gun laws” stopped this? Mateen was a licensed security guard.
It was not a “gun,” or a crazy Christian Conservative gun nut that massacred 49 people in Orlando and injured 53 more.
It was not the NRA or the 2nd Amendment.
It was a registered Democrat, with a bomb strapped to his chest, who held sympathetic beliefs to Islamic Terrorism and whose parents were originally from Afghanistan.
Donald Trump and his supporters will take this as an opportunity to ramp up their xenophobia, Hillary Clinton and her supporters will use this as an opportunity to ramp up their anti-second Amendment rhetoric.
That being said, it’s not the fault of Democrats, nor is it the fault of Republicans.
It’s not the fault of “guns,” its not even the fault of “all Muslims.”
Its the fault of evil.
I don’t know what the solution is, but what I do know is that the rights of free people should not be taken away because of the acts of cowards with evil in their hearts.
