President Biden vows action on mass shootings on 5th anniversary of Florida’s Pulse massacre

“Five years ago today in Orlando in the middle of Pride Month, our nation suffered the deadliest attack affecting the LGBTQ+ community in American history, and at the time, the deadliest mass shooting by a single gunman.”

So begins a nine paragraph statement released by The White House Saturday featuring President Joe Biden’s memorial to the victims and their families on the fifth anniversary of the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando that happened from 2 a.m. to 5 a.m. on June 12, 2016.

“Within minutes, the Pulse nightclub that had long been a place of acceptance and joy turned into a place of unspeakable pain and loss,” Biden said. “Forty-nine people were there celebrating Latin night were murdered, even more injured, and countless others scarred forever – the victims were family members, partners and friends, veterans and students, young, Black, Asian and Latino — our fellow Americans.”

One of the customers who was there that night, Patience Carter, a New York college student on the first night of her Florida vacation, told Miami Herald reporters at first she thought the club had fired BB guns in the air to hustle customers out the doors after bartenders called last call.

Even still, that night on the Pulse nightclub dance floor had been “the night that we dreamed … the most beautiful bonding experience any three girls could have on their first night out on vacation” she had thought.

The dream, of course, was a nightmare. And it wasn’t BB guns.

In addition to the 49 dead, 53 people were injured. After a three-hour standoff, police shot and killed the lone gunman, a 29-year-old man.

Biden, then vice president under President Barack Obama, flew to Orlando to visit the victims families and to thank first responders and the community for their actions.

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Biden, whose current Twitter page has a cover photo marking Pride month, said he pledged then that what happened five years ago would not be be forgotten.

“Over the years, I have stayed in touch with families of the victims and with the survivors who have turned their pain into purpose, and who remind us that we must do more than remember victims of gun violence and all of the survivors, family members, and friends left behind; we must act,” he said.

Biden added that he plans to sign a bill designating Pulse Nightclub as a national memorial, “enshrining” the spot where happiness and acceptance once governed, would be “hallowed ground.”

In April, Biden praised Pulse and Parkland activists for keeping up the fight to strengthen gun control measures in the U.S. as mass shootings continue rampantly. “They kept up the effort,” Biden said.

Biden doesn’t have the power to ban assault weapons or expand background checks without Congress passing a bill. But in April he announced policy changes that would mostly be implemented by the Department of Justice to show that gun control is a priority of his administration. Biden called on the U.S. Senate to pass two gun-control bills that advanced from the House of Representatives in March, and reiterated his support for banning assault weapons and limiting magazine sizes, the Herald reported.

That’s a subject he addressed Saturday in his statement on the fifth anniversary of the Pulse massacre.

“There is more we must do to address the public health epidemic of gun violence in all of its forms — mass shootings and daily acts of gun violence that don’t make national headlines. It is long past time we close the loopholes that allow gun buyers to bypass background checks in this country, and the Senate should start by passing the three House-passed bills which would do exactly that,” the president said.

“It is long past time we ban assault weapons and high capacity magazines, establish extreme risk protection orders, also known as ‘red flag’ laws, and eliminate gun manufacturers’ immunity from liability.

“We must also acknowledge gun violence’s particular impact on LGBTQ+ communities across our nation,” Biden added. “We must drive out hate and inequities that contribute to the epidemic of violence and murder against transgender women — especially transgender women of color. We must create a world in which our LGBTQ+ young people are loved, accepted and feel safe in living their truth. And the Senate must swiftly pass the Equality Act, legislation that will ensure LGBTQ+ Americans finally have equal protection under law.”

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Complete text of Biden’s Pulse statement

Five years ago today in Orlando in the middle of Pride Month, our nation suffered the deadliest attack affecting the LGBTQ+ community in American history, and at the time, the deadliest mass shooting by a single gunman.

Within minutes, the Pulse nightclub that had long been a place of acceptance and joy turned into a place of unspeakable pain and loss. Forty-nine people were there celebrating Latin night were murdered, even more injured, and countless others scarred forever – the victims were family members, partners and friends, veterans and students, young, Black, Asian and Latino – our fellow Americans.

A few days later, I traveled with President Obama to pay respects to them and their families, to thank the brave first responders and the community who found strength and compassion in each other, and to pledge that what happened would not be forgotten.

Over the years, I have stayed in touch with families of the victims and with the survivors who have turned their pain into purpose, and who remind us that we must do more than remember victims of gun violence and all of the survivors, family members, and friends left behind; we must act.

In the coming days, I will sign a bill designating Pulse Nightclub as a national memorial, enshrining in law what has been true since that terrible day five years ago: Pulse Nightclub is hallowed ground.

But there is more we must do to address the public health epidemic of gun violence in all of its forms – mass shootings and daily acts of gun violence that don’t make national headlines.

It is long past time we close the loopholes that allow gun buyers to bypass background checks in this country, and the Senate should start by passing the three House-passed bills which would do exactly that. It is long past time we ban assault weapons and high capacity magazines, establish extreme risk protection orders, also known as “red flag” laws, and eliminate gun manufacturers’ immunity from liability.

We must also acknowledge gun violence’s particular impact on LGBTQ+ communities across our nation. We must drive out hate and inequities that contribute to the epidemic of violence and murder against transgender women – especially transgender women of color. We must create a world in which our LGBTQ+ young people are loved, accepted, and feel safe in living their truth. And the Senate must swiftly pass the Equality Act, legislation that will ensure LGBTQ+ Americans finally have equal protection under law.

In the memory of all of those lost at the Pulse nightclub five years ago, let us continue the work to be a nation at our best – one that recognizes and protects the dignity and safety of every American.