Ed Markey: “Thank you, Madam President. I rise to echo the sentiments of the Senator from Florida. His State has suffered an…”

“Thank you, Madam President. I rise to echo the sentiments of the Senator from Florida. His State has suffered an unspeakable tragedy. It is something that unfortunately brings together two terrible biases--one against the LGBT community and the other a religiously based radical attack inspired by ISIS at that nightclub. They all came together. To the Senator and to everyone from Florida, our deepest, deepest sympathies go to you. It was, of course, something that was understood in Massachusetts. He mentioned the Tsarnaev brothers as an inspiration to him. They struck on Patriots Day in 2013 in the United States. Mohamed Atta and the other nine hijackers were in Boston when they hijacked the two planes from Logan International Airport. So we know those people are out there. We know that their hate-filled message is intended to kill innocent Americans, and we saw it once again. Unfortunately, the target was a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. But for us, I think we have to learn from this. This man had been investigated as a terrorist suspect, and yet we are blocked--the Senator from Florida and I and others--from passing a law that would prevent anyone on a terror watch list from buying a gun in these United States. It is not against the law. The National Rifle Association has enough power here on the floor of the Senate to prohibit someone who is on a terror watch list from buying guns in the United States of America. We need another vote on that issue here in the Senate.…”