Florida Congressman Alcee Hastings (D) didn't mince words about lack of legislative action on gun violence when he took to the House floor on Thursday.
Hastings pointed to the shooting Friday at Northern Arizona University and the shooting at Umpqua Community College in Oregon last week.
"If today is not the day for us to discuss gun violence, then I want to know what day is," Hastings wrote in the caption to the video of his speech. "People are being killed all over this nation: we have an epidemic, and we are constantly doing nothing about it. If it’s not today, then when? If it’s not us, then who?"
He said he grieves for the victims of the Arizona shooting and asks, "When will enough be enough?"
Hastings said he owns a gun, but said the unhinged fear that someone is going to come and take everyone's guns away is "foolish."
"There are some people in our society who believe that somebody is going to come and take their guns," he said. "That's foolish, and we need to stop this madness. Doing nothing in the face of all this epidemic violence that we are experiencing allows that not only is this House dysfunctional... but it is frozen."
Watch Hasting's speech, as posted to his Facebook page, here:
Hastings: If not today, then when? If not us, then who?Yesterday, I stood on the floor of the House of Representatives and spoke of the need to act on #gunviolence. I was told by a Republican colleague that it was neither the time nor place to talk about guns. If today is not the day for us to discuss gun violence, then I want to know what day is. People are being killed all over this nation: we have an epidemic, and we are constantly doing nothing about it. If it’s not today, then when? If it’s not us, then who?This morning, our country witnessed yet another shooting on a college campus. My heart goes out to the victims, and I grieve with the Northern Arizona University community. When will enough be enough? #guncontrol #WhateverItTakesPosted by Congressman Alcee L. Hastings on Friday, October 9, 2015
