Barack Obama pays tribute to Orlando victims, calls for gun control
17 Jun 2016 10:41 AM IST17 Jun 2016 10:41 AM IST
Forty-nine people were killed and 53 wounded when the 29-year-old Mateen attacked a gay nightclub on early Sunday.
President Barack Obama travelled to grief-stricken Orlando on Thursday, meeting loved ones devastated by the shooting rampage and using his bully pulpit to demand that the Republican-controlled Congress pass gun control. (Photo: AP)- In a rare symbolic show of bipartisanship, Obama arrived with Republican one-time presidential hopeful Marco Rubio and was greeted on the tarmac by Republican Florida governor Rick Scott and Vice President Joe Biden.
- Unfortunately our politics have conspired to make it as easy as possible for a terrorist or just a disturbed individual like those in Aurora and Newtown to buy extraordinarily powerful weapons and they can do so legally, Obama said.
- Obama insisted the military would tackle the Islamic State group, al-Qaeda and other extremist groups in their hideouts, and intelligence services would work to disrupt such networks.
- The Republican-controlled Congress has steadfastly refused to pass any gun legislation, saying to do so would infringe on the constitutional rights of gun owners.
- Relatives of the victims don't care about the politics. And neither do I, Obama said.
- After meeting the victims' families, Obama said our hearts are broken too and insisted the tone of the country's hyper-partisan debate on firearms needs to change.
- Forty-nine people were killed and 53 wounded when the 29-year-old Mateen, a Muslim American of Afghan descent ran amok in a packed gay nightclub early Sunday, armed with a legally bought assault rifle.
- Four days after the worst mass shooting in US history, Obama made a solemn pilgrimage to meet staff at the Pulse nightclub, emergency responders and some of the dozens of families shattered by gunman Omar Mateen.
President Barack Obama travelled to grief-stricken Orlando on Thursday, meeting loved ones devastated by the shooting rampage and using his bully pulpit to demand that the Republican-controlled Congress pass gun control.
Forty-nine people were killed and 53 wounded when the 29-year-old Mateen attacked a gay nightclub on early Sunday.
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