Larry Griffin
In response to Republican criticisms of her calls to close the loophole allowing people on the terror watch list to purchase firearms, Sen. Geraldine Thompson isn’t backing down.
She invoked the Pulse tragedy as well as other recent shooting attacks, condemning the Republican opposition to passing new laws and vowing to continue her efforts.
“The bloodshed we witnessed at the hand of an armed madman in the Pulse massacre was not the first, nor will it be the last,” she said. “The same is true of my efforts to counter this violence. I have joined repeated efforts by Democrats to rein in this terror that stalks our neighborhoods, which Republicans have blocked at every turn. The only ‘wedge issue’ is the same one that has dominated the halls of Tallahassee for far too long, namely the abrogation of lawmakers’ duty to protect our citizens in deference to the false protections offered and bankrolled by the NRA.”
Even before the Pulse attack, Thompson was vocal in her calls for gun control in the aftermath of other shootings, like that of community leader Gino Nicolas and others in April in Orlando. Nicolas was killed along with fellow resident Tanya Skeen, and several others were injured, in a drive-by shooting in the Parramore neighborhood. Nicolas, who worked with the city’s My Brother’s Keeper program, was in the neighborhood talking to youths in need of guidance.
In response to criticisms from Republicans that her call for a special legislative session on the matter was “trying to generate something to stand on,” Thompson said it was the opposite.
“To suggest that my call for a special session was to generate something ‘to stand on’ is not only reprehensible but morally wrong,” she said. “Within just a two-month span, and in just one Florida city, the killing of Gino, the shooting death of a promising entertainer at the Plaza Live Theater, and the worst mass murder in our nation’s history is plenty to stand on.
“All these things happened in my backyard and I felt compelled to address them. Citizens want more from their elected leaders than prayers and vigils. They expect us to work to put laws in place to protect them, not offer up more excuses for why we can’t.”
