It might be optimistic to think that the mass murder of 49 people at an LGBT nightclub will prompt sweeping gun-control reform; the horrific killing of dozens of children in Sandy Hook a few years back did little to advance such legislation.
But, if any morsel of good can come from the tragic events in Orlando, it could be that the situation was so jarring that it seems to have mobilized new communities of supporters behind gun-control efforts.
The LGBT and gun-control communities have long been aligned but this event seems to have inspired even more parity; LGBT people are rallying behind petitions, lobbying events and more to advance legislative efforts and gun-control advocates are showing their solidarity for the victims of the nation’s deadliest mass shooting. The scourge of gun violence, however, doesn’t seem to have impacted Republican lawmakers, who this week defeated four separate measures to tighten gun laws — including one that would have prohibited those on the FBI’s Terror Watch List from purchasing firearms.
Republican obstinacy in the face of this energized call for gun control could be a boon for LGBTs and allies. The names and votes of every Republican lawmaker who defeated these measures are circulating — and we need to keep them circulating as we approach the November election.
The horror reverberating from the Orlando shooting — compounded by the cowardice exhibited by Republicans who shot down sensible gun-control legislation — can’t be forgotten by the fall.
Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey has proposed his own gun-control legislation but voted along party lines on the most recent proposals after the Orlando shooting. Toomey is considered one of the Senate’s most vulnerable Republicans. The LGBT community, to which Toomey has never been a friend, needs to remember these and Toomey’s other votes when we go to the polls this fall.
One small measure of justice — which the 49 people who lost their lives this month deserve — can be attained by voting out the lawmakers who put party politics and the NRA over American safety and equality.