Orlando shooting fuels debate on gun control
Posted on June 13, 2016 by Palmer Gibbs
Early Sunday morning, right around last call, a gunman walked into a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, and opened fire with an assault rifle and handgun, killing 49 people and injuring 53. The suspect, 29-year-old Omar Mateen, allegedly was upset about seeing two men kissing in Miami, and his father said that might be related to the attack. Mateen also claimed loyalty to the Islamic State during the attack, according to various news outlets.
The violence marked the deadliest mass shooting in American history, and has reignited the debate about gun control.
In the first six months of 2016, 58 people have died in mass shootings across the United States, with the majority of those casualties occurring during Sunday’s massacre. The deadliest year on record for mass shootings was 2012, when 72 people died in total. Data on mass shootings is collected by Mother Jones and visualized by Graphiq below.
