(BL News Articles) - Mass Murder in Florida

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Mass Murder in Florida

What are the competing interests in its portrayal?
by Ken - June 16, 2016


News outlets are flooding their readers with varying reports of the Shooting in Florida. “We don’t know what’s true. We have like 17 different stories on what happened that night.”[1] said Amanda Connell sister of Cory Connell. Cory Connell went to the nightclub with his girlfriend Paula Blanco to learn how to Latin Dance. Early Sunday morning Omar Mateen opened fire in a night club filled with patrons attending the club’s Latin Night[2] so far 49 people are reported to have been killed1[3] by Omar including Cory[1], another 53 were wounded [3]. Barbara Poma owner of Pulse Nightclub speaking via her representative Sara Brady said that it was “Untrue and totally ridiculous” that Omar was a regular patron[4]. Should we believe that news reports could be untrue and totally ridiculous?

Some of the main themes repeated in the media are that it was a gay nightclub and a hate crime[5]. We are hearing that an assault rifle was used and that these weapons should be banned[5]. We are hearing that it was an act of Islamic terrorism [6]. In politics tragedies are used as political lubricant, the public’s emotions are greased to cause concessions otherwise unobtainable from sober minds.

Was it a hate crime? Was it Islamic terrorism? According to Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D) of the House Intelligence Committee after a meeting with FBI Director James Comey "It is fair to say there was a considerable amount of planning involved and scouting of potential locations." Apparently Omar was also scouting out various properties owned by Disney[4],[6]. There are some reports that in 911 calls placed by Omar he is quoted as saying “I did this for ISIS. I did it for the Islamic State.”[4] Shooting Survivors said they heard Omar say he “wanted America to stop bombing his country.[6]” Federal investigators say there is no evidence Omar received any help or instructions from Islamic terrorist groups or Islamic States[4]. It sounds to me that Omar felt upset about American Foreign Policy and was looking for an easy way to make America pay for the perceived injustice.

Who was Omar Mateen? Omar was a United States citizen born in New York to parents who immigrated here from Afghanistan5. He was 29 years old, a security guard who held a “D” and “G” license issued by the State of Florida. This means he passed additional mental health screenings in addition to criminal background checks and was allowed to carry firearms on security duty[7]. Nothing was illegal about the guns carried by Omar, nor would additional legal measures have prevented this massacre since he already passed mental health screenings and was a security guard.

Whether or not the United States military is bombing his relatives in Afghanistan, his actions are of a complete coward. Attacking unarmed citizens dancing on the Sabbath is unjustifiable by any standards. I do not understand why the media is trying to turn this into a crime against gays. Is it because gays frequented the club? It was “Latin Night”[2] when the shooting happened, Not “Gay Latin Night”, nor was it Pulse Gay nightclub; it was simply Pulse which was a nightclub. Perhaps the media wants homosexuals to adopt a victim mindset and accept their promises to keep this from happening again. If we only ban this and require that, make people sign this and wait for that amount of time, give up your rights and give the president unilateral power to enforce his whims, then he can save you from yourself. As a gay male I find masculinity attractive, I see the right to protect myself against deadly force with deadly force completely masculine, virtuous and part of my right to life. In my opinion, the media has always tried to effeminate gay males. Any attempt at taking away my rights of self-defense are about as welcome as taking away my balls. Yet our President who gave an oath to uphold The Constitution of the United States said this should prompt Americans to “think about the risks that we are willing to take by being so lax in how we make very powerful firearms available to people in this country.[8] Maybe the President thinks security and police should be disarmed, maybe he thinks that the dancers shouldn’t have been encouraged to carry weapons to defend themselves from such attacks. I don’t know his motivations, but I think the sooner Omar was stopped from his rampage and sent to his maker the better. This tragedy brings home the consequences of the Commander in Chiefs action’s in other countries, not the consequences of our freedoms. Yet he wants to use it to change our Government’s Essence, The Constitution. The only thing still limiting his power is our Constitutional right to enforce our power. Omar said what was driving him crazy, sure he took advantage of his rights to carry it out, but we shouldn’t all have to give up our rights because he went completely nuts. In fact, the rights of the individual over the majority are what enable freedom to exist. We must always support freedoms for those we disagree with, or we risk losing freedoms for everyone. Do no harm to any person or property or you will face the consequences of infringing on their freedom. We need the power to enforce those consequences or we become slaves and shooting targets.

As a parting thought; if guns are made illegal then crimes will be carried out with illegal guns. Guns won’t disappear. We need guns to be legal for law abiding citizens. Yet the media tries to manipulate our feelings of outrage, into outrage for their pet political agendas. Agendas that fail to live up to their promises. For example, drugs were made illegal in this country; in fact we have declared a War on Drugs. We have spent billions of dollars on it over many decades. Yet, in every city and town anyone (including minors) can get any drug. The infrastructure needed to allow that to occur rivals Wal-Mart’s vast infrastructure. How is that possible? How can that be if they are illegal? No. More laws are not the answer. We cannot rely on government agents to take care of us. We must regain our masculinity and responsibility, regain what makes us strong. It is us; it is Men, empowered and virile.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Cory Connell was known for his love of life By Jennifer Nesslar June 15, 2016 - West Orange Times & Observer
  2. 2.0 2.1 Orlando mass shooting survivor says 'heartless' gunman shot him as he played dead By Monivette Cordeiro June 14, 2016 - Blogs - Orlando Weekly
  3. 3.0 3.1 Terror in Orlando A complete reconstruction of the worst day in Orlando history By Monivette Cordeiro June 15, 2016 - Orlando Weekly
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Orlando investigators probe what gunman's wife knew of plan By Letitia Stein and Julia Edwards June 15, 2016 - Reuters
  5. 5.0 5.1 After Orlando Shooting, Talk Show Hosts Suggest Talk Is Not Enough By James Poniewozik June 14, 2016 - The New York Times
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 Investigators say Orlando shooter sought out Islamic State propaganda, may have staked out Disney sites By Brian Bennett, Del Quentin Wilber and Matt Pearce June 14, 2016 - LA Times
  7. Orlando shooter passed all background checks By Jim Turner June 13, 2016 - News Service of Florida - Blogs - Orlando Weekly
  8. President Obama to travel to Orlando on Thursday By Alex Leary June 13, 2016 - Tampa Bay Times

See also