Rep. Val Demings, D-Fl. made a renewed push for gun control last night after attacking Senator Marco Rubio, R-Fl. for inaction on the issue. Demings has been one of the leading proponents of gun control in the U.S House. Last year, she introduced legislation that would restrict so-called ‘ghost guns,’ or guns that do not have a serial number.
Demings gave a speech in Miami’s Little Haiti neighborhood last night where she addressed the school shooting that happened in Texas.
“I’m sick and tired of innocent people being gunned down in innocent places,” Demings said, speaking to a crowd of about 50 supporters at the Little Haiti Cultural Center. She called her opponent, Florida’s senior senator, Republican Marco Rubio, a “do-nothing senator” who “likes to be comfortable.”
Demings went on to say that there was gun control legislation currently sitting in the Senate that would address gun violence. Then, she mocked Rubio and religious people for offering ‘thoughts and prayers’ after tragic events.
WATCH: Val Demings attack Senator Marco Rubio
“There’s legislation sitting in the Senate right now that the Senate, not the Democratic members, but the Republican members including Marco Rubio, refuses to even address,” Demings told the Herald. “But he will be quick — right now he’s silent — but he will be quick to offer, I’m sure, a scripture. Or maybe some thoughts and prayers.”
Demings, running in a state that has taken a rightward turn since the 2016 election of President Trump, has not shied away from controversy in the past.
During the 2020 House impeachment hearings against President Trump, Demings accepted a public-facing role as an impeachment manager when Trump was accused of withholding aid from Ukraine if they did not investigate Hunter Biden.
Last year, Demings and her Democratic house colleagues refused to support an amendment that would prevent police departments from being defunded. She got into a heated argument with Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Oh. over the amendment that went viral.
Demings will likely be the Democratic nominee that faces Senator Rubio in the 2022 midterm elections. Rubio has emerged as the early frontrunner, polling six points ahead of Demings, with Politico and Inside Elections labeling the race ‘Likely Republican.’
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