In the early morning hours of June 12, Omar Mateen walked into Pulse, a LGBT nightclub in Orlando, and murdered 49 innocent people and injured 53 more. Before entering the club he made a call to 911 pledging his allegiance to the terrorist group ISIS. The massacre is now the most deadly in U.S. history. Prior to the shooting, Mateen had been under investigation by the FBI on two separate occasions after comments he made to coworkers about his ties to al-Qaeda and Hezbollah. The FBI interviewed Mateen three times but dismissed the cases due to lack of evidence.
In the aftermath of the shooting, many of people have again been calling for reform on gun laws. Despite having been under investigation by the FBI, Mateen was able to legally purchase the weapons he used to take so many lives. His ability to acquire those guns could have been prevented. Six months ago, after another shooting by Islamic extremists in San Bernardino, CA, democratic senators proposed a bill that would ban people on federal watch lists for acquiring firearms and force background checks to include online and gun show sales. The bill was voted down by 50 Senate republicans (and one democrat). Those same 50 senators have received over $27 million in donations from the National Rifle Association, one of the most powerful lobbyist groups in the nation.
One thing is for certain, those 50 senators have blood on their hands. They were elected to office to serve the people and instead they are serving the NRA. When given an opportunity to prevent potential terrorists from acquiring firearms, they said no. Those senators, who were chosen to represent the people, condemned 49 to die on June 12 because they felt they were more beholden to their campaign donors than to the people of the United States.
It’s time to say enough is enough, call your senator and let them know we cannot keep letting guns fall into the hands of those who wish to hurt us. Here are the names of the 50 senators who voted against keeping weapons out of the hands of potential terrorist threats:
Lamar Alexander (R-TN)
Kelly Ayotte (R-NH)
John Barrasso (R-WY)
Roy Blunt (R-MO)
John Boozman (R-AR)
Richard Burr (R-NC)
Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV)
Bill Cassidy (R-LA)
Daniel Coats (R-IN)
Thad Cochran (R-MS)
Bob Corker (R-TN)
John Cornyn (R-TX)
Tom Cotton (R-AR)
Mike Crapo (R-ID)
Ted Cruz (R-TX)
Steve Daines (R-MT)
Michael B. Enzi (R-WY) Joni Ernst (R-IA)
Deb Fischer (R-NE)
Jeff Flake (R-AZ)
Cory Gardner (R-CO)
Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
Orrin G. Hatch (R-UT)
Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND)
Dean Heller (R-NV)
John Hoeven (R-ND)
James M. Inhofe (R-OK)
Johnny Isakson (R-GA)
James Lankford (R-OK)
Mike Lee (R-UT)
Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
Jerry Moran (R-KS)
Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) Rand Paul (R-KY)
David Perdue (R-GA)
Rob Portman (R-OH)
James E. Risch (R-ID)
Pat Roberts (R-KS)
Mike Rounds (R-SD)
Marco Rubio (R-FL)
Ben Sasse (R-NE)
Tim Scott (R-SC)
Jeff Sessions (R-AL)
Richard C. Shelby (R-AL)
Daniel Sullivan (R-AK)
John Thune (R-SD)
Thom Tillis (R-NC)
David Vitter (R-LA)
Roger F. Wicker (R-MS)