One rose for every life. President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden paid a visit to Orlando on Thursday, June 16, to spend time with the families and loved ones of the victims killed in Sunday’s shooting rampage at Pulse nightclub, with bouquets of 49 white roses in hand.
The pair first visited privately with the victims’ families in downtown Orlando before paying their respects at a memorial site, where they laid the bouquets down in honor of each of the 49 killed.
“If in fact we want to show the best of our humanity, then we’re all going to have to work together at every level of government across political lines to do more to stop killers who want to terrorize us,” Obama told reporters, adding that the United States would continue to be “relentless” in its fight against extremist groups such as ISIS and Al-Qaeda.
“The notion that the answer to this tragedy would be to make sure that more people in a nightclub are similarly armed to the killer defies common sense,” he added, directly addressing opponents of gun control. “Those who defend the easy accessibility of assault weapons should meet these families and explain why that makes sense.”
Republican Florida senator Marco Rubio also joined Obama and Biden on their trip, showing a united front amid an increasingly divided national dialogue.
“Our hearts are broken too,” Obama told relatives of the victims, according to The Washington Post. “We stand with you.”
This trip marks Obama’s 10th visit to a community affected by a mass shooting in the eight years of his presidency.
Pulse Orlando, the popular gay nightclub where the shooting took place, posted a photo of Obama with several of its staffers to its Facebook page Thursday.
“Thank you Mister President Obama and Vice President you sure are amazing and we felt the love,” the caption read.
