NORTHAMPTON — The nightclub massacre in Orlando, Florida, is reigniting debate about gun control across the country and here in the Valley, with some lawmakers calling for new steps to reduce gun violence.
But in the view of a gun rights advocate, restricting access by law-abiding citizens is not the answer.
U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield, said in a statement Monday that Americans deserve to feel safe at school, work and other places. “And a good place to start is by reducing the level of gun violence that now plagues every corner of America,” he said.
“For those of us who call western Massachusetts home, it is particularly personal because two young people from our region lost their lives in the massacre at Pulse nightclub,” Neal said. “And for our friends in the LGBT and Latino communities, it is a tragedy of unprecedented proportions.
Once again, a deeply disturbed individual with an assault rifle killed and injured innocent people in an act of violence that is becoming far too common in the United States today.”
In 2004, former President Bill Clinton’s 1994 federal assault weapons ban expired, and since then, arguments on whether or not stricter gun-control laws would improve safety has become a key issue for political leaders.
The Orlando gunman, identified as Omar Mateen, legally purchased a handgun and assault-style rifle just a few days before Sunday’s attack.
Senate President Stanley C. Rosenberg, D-Amherst, said he wants to see “sensible” laws fashioned.
“I will continue to press our leadership in Congress to work to pass sensible gun laws to protect each and every one of us from another mass shooting,” he said in a statement provided to the Gazette. “Other countries have gun laws that protect them, but the United States does not.”
While some say U.S. laws are lax, proponents of gun rights argue that criminals have no intention of obeying laws.
“Criminals do not follow the law,” said Kirk Whatley of Hadley, owner of Whatley Training LLC. “Gun restrictions only make it harder for honest, law-abiding citizens to get guns to defend themselves.”
Whatley dismisses the notion that creating laws that restrict access to guns will improve public safety.
Laws such as having “gun-free zones” leave people vulnerable, in his view. “Everyday people feel the need to protect themselves and their family,” Whatley said.
The assault-style rifle used by Mateen was a semi-automatic AR-15. That is the same type of rifle used in the attacks in San Bernardino, California (14 killed and 20 wounded), Aurora, Colorado (12 killed and 58 wounded), and Newtown, Connecticut (27 killed and 2 wounded).
While the FBI had investigated Mateen in 2013 and 2014, according to news reports, he was able to acquire the weapons with relative ease.
Massachusetts Sen. Edward Markey argues that American society is being poisoned by guns.
Last year, he introduced legislation to fund research at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on gun violence.
In a statement Monday, he said gun violence is a blatant public health threat.
“Once and for all, let us take our heads out of the sand on the causes of gun violence and how to prevent it,” he said. “We must study gun violence like the public health crisis that it is.”