The monthly Fort Lauderdale Gun Show was slated to take place this past weekend at the War Memorial Auditorium, but because of the school shooting that occurred a month ago in Parkland, event organizers scrapped the two-day event.
After the show was cancelled, Democratic lawmakers decided to take this opportunity to call a town hall meeting of sorts to discuss gun violence. It was supposed to be an open discussion about guns, but it turned out to be nothing more than an anti-gun rally for about 200 or so attendees.
Several pro-gun attendees caused quite a ruckus by shouting down speakers, much like their Democratic counterparts did to Republican lawmakers during the 2016 election cycle.
Freedom of speech was in full displace, but the event missed a huge opportunity to address both sides of the issue.
Before U.S. Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Ted Deutch, and Alcee Hastings were introduced, Democratic State Senator Gary Farmer took the stage and was first targeted by the protestors.
Referring to the signage the activists were holding, Farmer at one point stated that these activists were merely trying to intimidate lawmakers, and saying that they were lying in their “messaging.”
“What we have seen for decades is this type of behavior,” said Farmer, adding that the actions of the protestors were part of an ongoing tactic of “manipulation, intimidation of legislators, scaring them into extreme legislation” that “restricts” local communities from protecting their communities from passing “common sense” gun control measures.
Here is the video of the protest during Farmer’s address:
