Political Attacks Flare In Wake Of Orlando Shooting

The Orlando shooting is difficult not to politicize, and voices on both sides of the aisle have started their attacks. The shooting sits in the cross-hairs of gun-control, terrorism, LGBT rights, surveillance, and religious tolerance. Even basic semantics has become an issue in the day after the tragedy occurred. It’s not clear what laws or policy changes will happen after the political fighting ends, but with one side going after the other, very little is likely to happen.

The harshest attack came from Donald Trump on Twitter.

Is President Obama going to finally mention the words radical Islamic terrorism? If he doesn’t he should immediately resign in disgrace!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 12, 2016

What has happened in Orlando is just the beginning. Our leadership is weak and ineffective. I called it and asked for the ban. Must be tough

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 12, 2016

The shooter in the Orlando massacre, Omar Saddiqui Mateen, swore an allegiance to the terrorist group ISIS according to some sources before entering the Pulse night club and killing about 51 people and leaving many more injured. The death toll would make the shooting the worst terrorist attack since 9/11.

As previously reported by The Inquisitr, Ted Cruz echoed Donald Trump’s political attack by saying government officials had to drop political correctness to defeat Islamic terror.

Republicans has come under fire too in the media. The Washington Post was quick to point out that conservatives rarely mentioned LGBT discrimination or the fact that Pulse was a gay club in their statements on the Orlando Shooting.

Jimmy LaSalvia, former Republican strategist, was offended by their reaction, saying it reminded him of why he left the party.

“They ignore and reject the reality that LGBT are part of life in America today. Remember the Charleston black church shooting? GOP politicians there fell all over themselves to take down the Confederate flag. I doubt anything like that will happen with the gay club shooting.”

There were notable exceptions, including Florida Senator Marco Rubio who flew from his home in Miami to Orlando to address the shooting in-person. He said that he knows in his gut that the club was targeted for LGBT affiliations, explaining that the attack is partially the result of a warped ideology.

Gun control is heated political battlefield after any mass shooting in America. Mateen entered the Orlando night club with an AR-15, an assault rifle he legally purchased. He had two firearms licenses according to the Wall Street Journal, a security-officer license and a statewide firearms license.

Likewise, Florida has a checkered past with gun violence, home to controversial laws like “Stand Your Ground.”

Bernie Sanders was quick to call for gun legislation when talking about the Orlando shooting on CNN.

“I believe that in this country we should not be selling automatic weapons which are designed to kill people. We have got to do everything that we can on top of that to make sure guns do not fall into the hands of people who should not have them, criminals and people who are mentally ill. So, that struggle continues.”

According to Raw Story, Chuck Todd was equally quick to suggest that the Vermont Senator was politicizing the shooting.

Calls to not “politicize” the incident will likely be ignored or criticized as a way to shut down conversations. They will also probably be rare. The Orlando shooting reinforces fears on both sides of the political aisle – fear of radical Islamic terrorism and mass shootings. A grand compromise, which might mean fewer guns in America and more guns in the Middle East, is not how modern U.S. political debates usually go.

The Orlando shooting will be a subject in the presidential election, but the policy solutions might become too pointed and hostile for anything to actually get accomplished in the end.

[Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images]