Danny McAuliffe
Florida Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson told his colleagues on the Senate floor Thursday that they shouldn’t shy away from addressing gun control measures in the wake of the recent mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.
“To those who say now that it’s not the time to talk about gun violence because it’s too soon, we don’t want to politicize right after a tragedy, that’s what is said over and over,” Nelson said. “Then I would ask, when is the time?”
The senator then recounted the horrors that occurred on Wednesday and honed in on the shooter’s weapon: an AR 15.
Describing himself as a hunter, Nelson said that an AR 15 has no use in the sport.
“An AR-15 is not for hunting,” Nelson said. “It’s for killing.”
Nelson said that claiming the shooting is the result of mental illness or a lack of protection at schools addresses only part of the problem.
He then stopped just short of calling for a ban on assault weapons.
“Let’s talk about that 19-year-old carrying an AR-15,” Nelson said, referring to the Parkland shooter, Nikolas Cruz. “Let’s do what needs to be done and let’s get these assault weapons off our streets.”
Marco Rubio, following Nelson’s testimony, shared a very different message.
The Republican senator said that often laws do little to prevent someone who wishes to harm others.
“If someone decides that they are going to take it upon themselves to kill people — whether it’s a political assassination of one person or the mass killing of many — if one person decides to do it and they’re committed to that task, it is a very difficult thing to stop,” Rubio said.
But Rubio also said that solutions could arise from looking at what mass killers have in common. He said they almost always commit violence with careful and deliberate steps after premeditation.
On Cruz, Rubio said that several red flags should’ve indicated the shooter was a threat to society.
He described several “warning signs” on Cruz’ social media that showed he was deranged, including a comment on a YouTube video where Cruz claimed he was going to be “a professional school shooter.”
Rubio said that he was sworn into office after promising to uphold the Constitution, which in its Second Amendment lays out American citizens’ rights to own and operate firearms.
But, noting the increased frequency of shootings, Rubio said that the Second Amendment is listed after the Preamble, which enumerates the insurance of domestic tranquility and the promotion of general welfare.
The move hinted the senator might be open to some discussion of gun control.
“I’m not saying don’t focus on the gun part,” Rubio said. “But we also have to focus on the violence part.”
