Typically, when the president visits a mourning community, the right message to deliver is relatively straightforward. He described the families’ grief as “beyond description”.
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Obama called the Orlando rampage an act of terror, but he also forcefully declared it an “act of hate”.
In earlier instances where Obama has visited a community in mourning, the president has urged the nation to reject the attacker’s ideology and do what it can to prevent such incidents.
“I held and hugged grieving relatives and they asked: Why does it keep happening?” he said, adding: “They don’t care about the politics”.
“But we can do something about the amount of damage that they do”, he said. McCain may or may not have meant to imply, but what he did do was actually say “Barack Obama is directly responsible” and then, later, said, “he is directly responsible”. “Neither do I. Niether does [Vice President] Joe [Biden]”.
Omar Mateen, armed with assault weapons, stormed the Pulse Club on Sunday, killing 49 people and injured 53 others at the gay club, marking the worst ever mass shooting in U.S. history.
President Barack Obama looks at a t-shirt that was presented to him by Orlando, Fla. Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio of Florida.
Obama and Biden disembarked Air Force One after landing at Orlando International Airport.
Embracing grieving Orlando families and appealing anew for national action, President Barack Obama claimed a threat to all Americans security Thursday as a strong reason to tighten US gun laws.
He said he and Biden also thanked Orlando’s mayor, police chief, and sheriff, and praised the first responders, doctors, and nurses who have done their duty.
Two Pulse staffers were killed during the massacre, the White House said.
The visit will take place amid a bitter political feud in Washington DC over gun control and terrorism in the aftermath of the deadliest mass shooting in modern USA history. Vice President Joe Biden and Sen.
Elsewhere in the city and in Washington, investigators were working to reconstruct the movements of the 29-year-old shooter before he opened fire at the Pulse dance club, including what his wife may have known about the attack.
Republican presidential presumptive nominee Donald Trump has said that the casualties could have been far less if people were allowed to carry guns.
Obama blamed USA politics for Omar Mateen’s ability, despite having been interviewed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on three separate occasions due to suspected ties to terrorism, to purchase a firearm.
“But the instruments of death were so similar”. “Some will have wounds that will last a lifetime”. “We stand with you”.
The debate needs to change, he said.
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After a marathon of speeches by Democrats, one senator said Republicans had agreed to hold votes on measures to expand background checks and prevent people on United States terrorism watch lists from buying guns.
