Statement on Orlando Tragedy

For Immediate Release: June 12, 2016 My heart goes out to the friends and families of those lost and injured in the horrific attack on the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida. This is now the worst mass shooting in America, where mass shootings have become frighteningly common. I ask everyone to reflect on this tragedy, and send your thoughts and prayers to everyone in the Orlando LGBT community. In the coming days, we will learn more about the shooter, and perhaps the motivation, though there can be no rational explanation for violence on this scale. We must all insist on a change in the way our country accepts widespread ownership of assault weapons. These are military style weapons and there can be no reason for civilian sales of these high impact assault weapons. The endless protection of the most extreme positions of the NRA must come to an end. Americans are more at risk from Americans with assault weapons, than we are from outside forces. The time is long since passed when the defense of our country must include rational policies limiting the proliferation of deadly weapons.