Early morning on June 12 a gunman, named Omar Mateen, walked into Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, with an assault rifle and pistol and opened fire. Described as the worst attack on American soil after 9/11, Mateen executed a mass shooting killing 49 and wounding over 50. Several questions were raised concerning external terror network’s involvement especially after it was disclosed that the shooter was of Afghan origin. The suspect’s father assured that Mateen had not pledged allegiance to any terror organization and suggested that the mass shooting was a form of hate crime as Mateen abhorred homosexuals. In Washington, FBI Director James Comey reported that the suspect was placed on a terror watch list and was looked into twice. FBI carried out no action against him as they found no reason he was a credible threat. Comey said that the investigators are extremely confident that Omar Mateen radicalized himself through the internet. Presidential candidates as well as President Obama extended their condolences to the affected families and gave their statements regarding the shooting. President Obama and Hillary Clinton called for gun control and a ban on assault weapons whereas Donald Trump suggesting banning Muslims from the United States.

President Obama confirmed that the attack appears to be “homegrown terrorism” and not an act of terror carried out by a large organization like ISIS. The President commented that it was a “heartbreaking” day for the LGBT communities and an attack on all Americans. He took advantage of the situation to stress on the necessity of gun control.

"It is therefore a further reminder of how easy it is for someone to get their hands on a weapon that lets them shoot people in a school, or in a house of worship, or a movie theatre or in a nightclub," President Obama said.

On 13th June, Donald Trump delivered his speech addressing the Orlando Shooting. He emphasized on the rise of “radical Islamic terrorism” despite reports that Omar Mateen’s actions weren’t religiously motivated. He criticized President Obama for not using the aforementioned term and for not confronting the issue in his speech. Trump called for Clinton to drop out of the race for president if she didn’t use the words “radical Islam” to describe the Orlando nightclub massacre.

Trump blatantly blamed the problem on America’s “dysfunctional” immigration system. “…the only reason the killer was in America in the first place, was because we allowed his family to come here.” Trump said. He promised that during his term as President he plans on imposing a temporary ban on Muslim immigrants. There was no mention of gun control- or more precisely the lack thereof- in Donald Trump’s speech.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton opened her speech by saying, “Today is not a day for politics” possibly criticizing Donald Trump’s policies. She disagreed with Trump’s call to ban Muslims citing that it was essentially inspecting people based on their religion. She emphasized the importance of controlling automated weapons, she said,” If the FBI is watching you for suspected terrorist links, you shouldn’t be able to just go buy a gun with no questions asked.”

“Threatening to ban the families and friends of Muslim Americans as well as millions of Muslim businesspeople and tourists trying to enter our country hurts the vast majority of Muslims who love freedom and hate terror”
- Hillary Clinton

Orlando attack reactions from the two presidential candidates are starkly different and prove that the chasm between the two has never been wider.One suggested a detailed plan to try to prevent future terrorist attacks by cutting off their access to guns and the other focused on the terrorist threat and closing the borders to Muslims