Members of Central Florida’s LGBTQ community are forming Gays Against Guns (GAG)-Orlando, a chapter of the national organization started in New York in the wake of the Pulse nightclub shooting.Gays Against Guns fights against lax gun laws, and works to prevent the deliberate gun violence that claims the lives of 800 people each year in Florida. The group stages peaceful sit-ins and protests at offices and events of politicians who weaken state and federal laws against gun violence, and at the offices of corporations that profit from the sale of guns.
Forty-nine people were murdered with a semi-automatic weapon at the Pulse nightclub on June 12. A mentally unstable person bought the weapon legally in Port St. Lucie on June 4. Automatic weapons such as this are weapons of war that until the national Assault Weapons Ban expired in 2004, were manufactured only for the military.
“Florida is saturated with semi-automatic weapons that have one purpose,” said GAG-Orlando coordinator Mark McMeley, “to kill as many people as possible. These guns were not made for hunting or personal defense, but to kill people on a battlefield. Gun manufacturers and their lobbying arm, the National Rifle Association, claim that restrictions on these murder weapons is unconstitutional, but the Constitution was written in the era of muskets and bayonets when people lived on the frontier. No one is going to kill 49 people in our schools, in our shopping centers, in our churches and other gathering places with a musket. It takes these semi-automatic weapons that are now for sale to people like the Pulse murderer because the NRA contributes big money to many Florida politicians to make that possible.”
GAG-Orlando will coordinate with Equality Florida, Team Watermark, Organize Now and Ban Them to stage peaceful protests, such as the one on July 11 at the Orlando office of Senator Marco Rubio, to draw attention to politicians’ support for automatic weapons sales. For the Orlando Pride March, on October 8, GAG-Orlando members will walk behind the rainbow banner created for New York City Pride parade and will carry photos of the people killed at the Orlando nightclub. “Homophobia and automatic weapons are killing us,” said McMeley. “We will fight back. We want to live.”
