It’s been just over twenty-four hours since Omar Mateen walked into a popular LGBT nightclub in Orlando, Florida, carrying his legally purchased AR-15, and opened fire. So at this point, what do we know about the worst mass shooting in U.S. history?
We know that 49 people are dead, 53 are wounded and an untold number of lives are shattered.
We know that the AR-15 and other assault-style rifles are the weapon of choice in mass shootings.
We know that three years ago, 44 out of 45 Senate Republican voted against reinstating the Assault Weapons Ban.
We know that an Assault Weapons Ban was introduced in the House nearly six months ago, where, under the bold leadership of Paul Ryan, it has languished ever since.
We know that Omar Mateen had been on a terrorist watch list at one time … but even had he remained on that list, he still would have been able to purchase his weapons because last year Senate Republicans voted to allow potential terrorists to buy guns.
We know that Donald Trump sent out a series of asinine tweets where he said that he "appreciate[d] the congrats" because he likes to say “radical Islamic terrorism,” called on President Obama to "resign in disgrace," and reiterated his call for a ban on all Muslims entering the country. (He didn’t mention that the shooter was born and raised in the United States.)
We know that Republican lawmakers offered thoughts and prayers (although most neglected to mention they would being thinking and praying for people from the LGTB community).
And we know that President Obama, Hillary Clinton, along with Senate and House Democrats, once again called for common sense gun reform in the wake of this, the 133rd mass shooting in the U.S. in 2016.
But there are post offices to be named, so ...
