Senator Marco Rubio and NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch had a rough time at a televised forum last week in Florida after they declined to back the new firearm control measures.
Loesch offered the organization’s first public remarks after a deadly shooting on Valentine’s Day at Stoneman Douglas High School. She strongly defended NRA’s position in front of teachers and students from the Marjory Douglas High School. She chose to shift focus from the proposed gun control measures to mental health laws arguing that people who have any mental illness shouldn’t be allowed to get firearms.
The mass shootings in Las Vegas, Orlando, Newtown, Fort Lauderdale, and Florida didn’t convince Senator Marco Rubio to reconsider his position on firearms. However, Rubio shifted his stance on firearms on Wednesday as he fought hard to contain the anger of both parents and students who survived the Florida gun shooting at the school. Although he was jeered by an enormous crowd and bombarded with tough questions, the senator stood his ground and remained as the only Republican representative onstage.
Rubio differed with President Donald Trump on whether the high school teachers should be armed to enhance security in learning institutions. According to Rubio, this is a bad idea, and it will not help in solving the problem.
He suggested that one of the best ways of dealing with the menace is by raising the least age to buy an assault rifle from the current 18 to 21 years of age. He also believes that restricting the size of magazines for assault firearms can also go a long way in combating the problem.
This was a surprising move by Senator Marco, who never met a firearm-rights bill he didn’t support in the Florida State legislature and, later, in national Congress. Asked why he had decided to reconsider his previous stance, he said that he was driven by the need to prevent another mass murder massacre and it was time for every American to start rethinking their previous positions.
Despite all this explanation, the crowd gathered at the school didn’t seem to agree. At some point, Senator Bill Nelson tried to offer him a lifeline when he credited Senator Marco as the only Republican who had shown up unlike Governor Rick Scott, but the crowd could hear none of it.
Things seemed to get out of hand when the father of a 14-year-old-teenager who was murdered at Stoneman Douglas School furiously lectured Mr. Rubio for his denial to support gun control measures. Fred Guttenberg insisted that the senator should clarify his stance to a ban on the kind of deadly assault firearm that the killer had used to take away innocent lives at the institution.
The parents and students constantly erupted in applause whenever Mr. Guttenberg raised a point and repeatedly jeered Mr. Rubio. However; Senator Rubio explained that the proposed gun control bill had numerous weak points that would make it simple for criminals to exploit and make things worse.
He insisted that the numerous problems laid bare by the mass shootings rampage couldn’t be solved by strict legislation alone drawing further jeering from the crowd. He insisted that he would comfortably support the bill if he believed that it would prevent future mass shootings from happening.
The senator argued that there was concrete evidence from the scene which suggested that the gunman could have killed fewer people if he didn’t have the high-capacity magazines.
~ Patriotic Freedom Fighter
