Annapolis, MD -(AmmoLand.com)- Our thoughts are with those families that lost loved ones and those injured in the terrorist attack in the club this past Saturday night in Orlando. An evil person, performed an evil act based on hate for our fellow man.
So, what do we know about the terrorist? We know that the terrorist (I refuse to use his name) was born in the US to immigrant parents. We know that he had a Class G security permit from the State of Florida’s Department of Agriculture, which means that he had to endure not one, but two background investigations by the state of Florida. We know that he was investigated by the FBI twice for terrorist sympathies or ties, with the first case being closed in 2013 and the second closed in 2014. We know that he purchased a rifle on June 4th with no issue, passing the NICS background check, and a Glock handgun on June 5th, again passing a NICS check. We know that his wife drove him to the club on more than one occasion as well on a trip to purchase ammunition and a holster.
What do we know about the event? We know that he entered the club at 2:02 AM Sunday morning and started shooting. We know that on off duty uniformed Orlando police officer engaged the terrorist inside the club as soon as he heard the shooting start. The officer retreated back outside of the club and waited for back-up. We know that the first officers arrived two minutes after the shooting started, they formed up with the first officer and went back into the club to re-engage the terrorist and forced him into a bathroom with club goers, causing a standoff. We know that three hours later Orlando SWAT executed an attempted rescue with explosive and an armored vehicle, the terrorist came out of the building with the hostages and started shooting at police at which point he was killed.
We still do not know for sure what the failures were. Did the FBI fail in it’s investigations? Did his wife, knowing he was planning this fail to notify authorities? Were there any civilians shot by friendly fire by the police in the three different engagements with the terrorist? There are others as well, and I will not speculate on any of them.
What we do know is that the anti-gun lobby will use this as a stepping stone to further erode our Constitutional rights at the Federal level and the State level in the next legislative session beginning in January. We are also hearing of several Maryland counties that are considering county laws that would restrict law abiding gun owners from being able to protect themselves. We will probably see bills to ban the AR-15 and other assault weapons at the Federal level, and further restrict magazine capacities. We will see another attempt to adopt the terror watch list as a prohibiting fact for purchasing or owning a firearm, a move that would violate every citizen’s 5th Amendment right to due process.
Some of the extreme proponents of gun control will say that this had nothing to do with an extremist religion, or hate, or intolerance of a different life style. They will instead say that this is due to the lack of reasonable gun violence measures or common sense gun laws. What they do not understand is that whether it be a fertilizer bomb, box-cutters to take over planes, or using a firebomb after being kicked out of a club, evil people bent on doing evil things will use any means to achieve their end.
Dan Blasberg
President
Maryland Shall Issue
dblasberg@marylandshallissue.org
https://www.vcdl.org/webapps/vcdl/2017leg.html
301-943-8903
About Maryland Shall Issue:
Mission Statement: Maryland Shall Issue is an all volunteer, non-partisan effort dedicated to the preservation and advancement of all gunowners’ rights in Maryland, with a primary goal of CCW reform to allow all law-abiding citizens the right to carry a concealed weapon; and to the education of the community to the awareness that ‘shall issue’ laws have, in all cases, resulted in decreased rates of violent crime.
For more information, visit: https://www.vcdl.org/webapps/vcdl/2017leg.html.