I am devastated by the terrible mass shooting in Orlando, a community of our friends and family. I share their anguish and that of the LGBTQ community. On behalf of them and my saddened neighbors in Tampa Bay, I pledge to work to root out terrorists who seek to do us harm, to fight for greater safety and security for our families, and work for greater understanding among all of our neighbors.  There is too much dissension and hate-inspired dialogue in America right now.  Dr. King said, "hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that".  We must write it and say it aloud to each other today because at difficult times like these it is hard to hold to. 

The hateful attack will not stop our LBGTQ friends from celebrating pride in who they are, and it should move others to come together to affirm that love conquers hate. Equality Florida and the Human Rights Campaign reported that hate crimes based on sexual orientation currently account for 22 percent of all hate crimes in Florida, trailing only race as the most common motivation. As a percentage of the state population, LGBTQ Floridians are at the highest risk of being targeted with a hate crime. Florida law provides increased penalties for hate crimes based on sexual orientation.

Nothing is more important than the safety of the families of my neighbors and all Americans. We must ensure that law enforcement, intelligence agencies and military service members have the tools they need to keep us safe.  These horrendous circumstances remind us that the Congress can act to reinstate the military, high-capacity assault weapons ban and pass legislation to prohibit any person on the national terrorism watch list from being able to purchase a firearm. Data from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) show that between 2004 and 2010, people on terrorism watch lists tried to buy guns and explosives more than 1,400 times. They succeeded in more than 90 percent of those cases, or 1,321 times. In 2013-14, the number of successful buyers rose to 94 percent, with 455 suspects buying weapons and just 30 denied as allowed under current laws. Of those denied, the GAO reported that none were denied because they were a terror threat, but because either there was a ‘felony conviction, under indictment, adjudicated mental health, misdemeanor crime of domestic violence conviction, fugitive from justice and controlled substance abuse.’”  We need to provide the tools like these to law enforcement to protect our communities from lone-wolf and other mass shootings.