The Pulse National Memorial Political Pander
A radicalized Muslim, not “a gun,” murdered 49 people in an LGBT nightclub.
Using “Pride Month” as a political platform, Joe Biden promised to sign a bill enshrining an Orlando LGBT nightclub called Pulse as a national memorial. Calling it “hallowed ground,” Biden recalled that five years ago, 49 people were murdered and 53 others wounded by “gun violence” at the club. Pulse’s LGBT focus is why it was targeted by the perpetrator, a radicalized Islamist named Omar Mateen. But Biden chose instead to focus on guns and gays for political gain.
Recall that the Obama administration also sought to downplay the Islamist motive behind the attack, opaquely stating that “we do have suggestions that that individual may have leanings toward a particular ideology.” Barack Obama himself pushed against Islam being a motivating consideration behind the Pulse attack. “What exactly would using [the term ‘radical Islam’] accomplish?” he asked. “What exactly would it change?”
Now Biden is doing the same thing, certifying the site as a national memorial while obscuring the assailant’s true motives and instead blaming Americans’ right to bear arms.“Over the years, I have stayed in touch with families of the [Pulse] victims and with the survivors who have turned their pain into purpose, and who remind us that we must do more than remember victims of gun violence and all of the survivors, family members, and friends left behind; we must act,” Biden bloviated. “In the coming days, I will sign a bill designating Pulse Nightclub as a national memorial, enshrining in law what has been true since that terrible day five years ago: Pulse Nightclub is hallowed ground.”
Meanwhile, per the Biden administration’s directive for “Pride Month,” U.S. embassies across the globe have been flying the rainbow flag to “highlight the contributions of LGBTQI+ persons around the world.” However, some U.S. embassies in certain countries around the world have not been flying the rainbow flag. Why? Because they are Muslim-majority nations where same-sex activity is criminalized, and Team Biden certainly wouldn’t want to offend their sensibilities.
At the same time, at the U.S. embassy at the Vatican, no such concerns about offense are considered — the rainbow flag is flapping in the breeze, despite the Roman Catholic Church’s position against homosexuality and the fact that Joe Biden is supposedly a devout Catholic.
Some young people get it. As Hillsdale College student Haley Strack observes, “The only places the Biden administration is comfortable raising the pride flag are where LGBT folks are most protected, but confining pride to areas where it’s already accepted is just another example of hypocritical virtue-signaling from the Democrat executive.”
Once again, Biden’s strategic angle is to suggest that “guns in the hands of Americans” was the real problem that led to the Pulse nightclub attack. It’s a narrative he sought to ram home as he called on the Senate to pass a ban on “assault weapons” and to expand background checks. “It is long past time we close the loopholes that allow gun buyers to bypass background checks in this country, and the Senate should start by passing the three House-passed bills which would do exactly that,” Biden stated. “It is long past time we ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, establish extreme risk protection orders, also known as ‘red flag’ laws, and eliminate gun manufactures’ immunity from liability.”
Every one of those policies would infringe on the Second Amendment while doing nothing to stop evil men — including radicalized Islamists who think their actions are the “will of Allah” — from perpetrating murderous assaults on the innocent.