Congress members react with anger
Texas massacre prompts calls for swift gun reforms
South Florida members of Congress reacted with sadness and anger — directed at Republicans — as the news of the Texas school shooting unfolded Friday.
“I’m watching kids on TV. They’re standing outside their high school. And they’re crying because they survived a school shooting. It is so familiar and so horrifying. I’m so sad and so, so angry,” U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch wrote on Twitter.
“It’s been three months since the shooting at Stoneman Douglas. If you are watching this, it should move you to tears. More important, if you’re an elected official, it should move you to action to keep kids safe. And if it doesn’t, then just get the hell out of our way,” he added.
Deutch is a Democrat whose district includes Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, the location of the Feb. 14 massacre in which 17 people were killed and 17 injured.
Deutch said it’s long past time for Congress to take action restricting access to guns, rejecting the response that gun-control opponents always deliver in the aftermath of mass shootings, that it’s “too soon” to discuss gun control.
“It’s not too soon. It’s too late. For at least eight families. For thousands more student-survivors at Santa Fe High School,” he wrote on Twitter, adding a direct message to House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin. “You’ve had three months since our meeting to ready universal background checks for the floor. How many more?”
Deutch also offered a message to President Donald Trump. “How many more, POTUS?” he wrote, using the acronym for president of the United States.
U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, also a Democrat who represents parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties, also took Ryan and Republicans to task.
“Watching yet another school shooting unfold, knowing that Republicans in Congress have blocked every single effort to reform gun control, is heartbreaking and infuriating. We are averaging one school shooting per week with casualties. @SpeakerRyan when will enough be enough?” Hastings wrote.
South Florida Republicans tweeted about the shooting as well.
U.S. Rep. Mario DiazBalart wrote, “As we continue to learn more details about the situation, I’m grateful to police in Santa Fe that promptly arrived to the school to protect students and personnel. Hardening and securing our classrooms is more urgent than ever.”
U.S. Rep. Carlos Curbelo said, “Devastating to hear the news out of Houston-area and Santa Fe, Texas. Thinking of the victims, families, and first responders. We must take more steps to keep our students – and all Americans – safe.”
“All Americans are heartbroken by yet another attack on a school,” U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio tweeted. “We should lift up in prayer [for] the victims & their families. And we should all be grateful for the police officers and for the teachers & students of #SantaFeHighSchool whose brave actions saved lives today.” Other Republicans — U.S. Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Brian Mast — didn’t immediately offer their thoughts.
Other Democratic members of Congress reacted to the shooting, but not as strongly as Deutch or Hastings.
“My heart breaks for the victims and their families in Texas. Students shouldn’t be afraid to go to school. Parents shouldn’t be afraid that their children won’t come home. Inaction is not a justifiable option,” wrote U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Broward/Miami-Dade county Democrat, on Twitter.
Also on Twitter, U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, a Palm Beach County Democrat, wrote: “Heartbreaking news. I’m monitoring the situation, and my thoughts are with the victims, their families, and the students of Santa Fe High School.”
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, DFla., called the Texas shooting “absolutely heartbreaking. We’ve got a real problem in this country, and we must do more to prevent these tragedies from happening. Students and parents across the country are counting on us.”
Nelson and Hastings also said they were praying for the victims and their families.
Gov. Rick Scott, who is challenging Nelson for the Senate in this fall’s election, issued a statement in which he said he was devastated to learn about the Santa Fe shooting. “We unfortunately know the enormity of the grief they are experiencing and our hearts are broken over this senseless tragedy.”