The Pulse terror attack one year later:
Bottom Line: It was a year ago today that Omar Mateen took to the Pulse nightclub in Orlando and opened up on the club with brutal force in a premeditated terror attack that resulted in death of 49 people with an additional 53 wounded. The attack itself was shocking in several respects:
- The size of the attack for just one attacker
- The sophisticated planning and execution of the terror attack
- The length of time he carried out the attack
- Calling authorities to report the attack
- The appearance of homosexuals specially being targeted in the attack
- He was an American born in New York who grew up in Port St. Lucie
And this nugget...
- He worked for a security firm and had been interviewed multiple times by the FBI due to concerns from coworkers about his conduct
Among the most alarming aspects of the Mateen case...for nearly two years he was on the "Terror Screening Database". We're always told that "if you see something, say something". Well his coworkers did and the Fed's dropped the ball in an enormous way. Subsequent events over the past year, around the world, haven't shown that lessons are being learned.
Additionally, one of the survivors, Jeff Rodriguez, had this to say to the Washington Times..."I believe if myself or others had guns that night, I believe the outcome would have been very different.”
- Would we be safer if more businesses allowed people to carry? What would have happened if someone had been carrying inside that club?
Mateen was finally stopped when police hit him with eight rounds. What if someone at the club had been carrying and could have stopped it in it's tracks?
- According to the National Institute of Justice, firearms result in protection of people approximately 1.5 million times per year in the US. That's 4,109 per day.