Political Quotes

“Today, I rise because it is National Gun Violence Survivors Week, a time when we focus on sharing and amplifying the stories of gun violence survivors who live with the impacts of gun violence every day. I recall the morning of June 12, 2016, when my wife and I were awakened at 6 in the morning by a barrage of texts because the unthinkable happened to our happy little town of Orlando, Florida. Gun violence on a massive scale had reared its ugly head at a place where people just wanted to have a good time, at the Pulse nightclub. We lost 49 Americans that day, 49 of my fellow Orlandoans who were just there to enjoy friendship and camaraderie. Their lives were taken way too early from us. But we also have to focus on the 53 who were wounded, the survivors of the Pulse nightclub tragedy. One of them is a coworker of mine, Ramses Tinoco. Ramses is a paralegal who was good spirited, hard-working, and always excited about the job. Suddenly, for several weeks, he wasn't able to come back to work, or at least in a regular fashion. I remember talking to him about what it was like to be there. It was hard for him to talk about it, and I don't blame him because no one should have to see those types of horrors. Another good friend of mine, Ricardo Negron-Almodovar, a lawyer in Puerto Rico who came to central Florida for a new start, and within less than a year of living in Orlando, he faced this vicious tragedy. But he has been fighting back.…”