Florida is reminded, horribly, mass shootings don’t happen “somewhere else”

On this horrible Sunday morning in Florida, Orlando has suddenly become known for more than being the home of Disney World: It’s now the site of America’s largest mass shooting.

These figures have never been written to describe the toll of a shooting attack on American soil: 50 dead as of this writing, 53 injured.

We Floridians have been reminded that we, too, are part of this awful national plague, not immune, not shocked viewers from afar, not able to say that such horrors happen “somewhere else.”

This time, a gunman stormed into a popular gay nightclub called Pulse and killed and killed and killed.

It’s likely no accident that he picked one of our most vulnerable communities. Was ideology behind the driving force? Too soon to tell.

And given the breadth of the carnage, it clearly was a despicable act of hate, no matter the motivation.

This story was originally published June 12, 2016 at 2:36 PM with the headline "Florida is reminded, horribly, mass shootings don’t happen “somewhere else”."