Bladen County has all flags lowered. Governor Roy Cooper has joined President Donald Trump in ordering all United States and North Carolina flags at state facilities to be lowered to half-staff from Feb. 15 until sunset on Feb. 19 in honor of the victims of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida.
In a speech to the North Carolina Healthcare Association, Governor Roy Cooper shared his thoughts on the tragedy in Parkland, Florida.
An excerpt of Gov. Roy Cooper’s remarks is below:
“Our hearts are broken for people in Florida—for those kids, for those adults who were killed…When will this country have had enough of this? 25 fatal school shootings since Columbine—and we all remember what happened at Columbine. In mass shootings from 2009 to 2016, 25 percent of the fatalities have been children.
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“We have an epidemic of deadly gun violence in this country…I’m wondering when elected leaders in Washington are going to quit talking about this and step up and do what we need to do. When are we going to have the courage to put in background checks that work? We need to do what we can to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and those who are dangerously mentally ill. We don’t know all of the facts yet of what happened, but should a killer like the one who’s described, with the background that so many people seem to know about, should that person be able to go in and buy a semiautomatic weapon? I think the answer to that is a clear no.
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You can take steps to protect the second amendment while still working to protect these kids and our country. So, let’s think about that, too, as we go about our daily lives and as we think about the pain that these families are feeling and these communities are feeling. We’ve got to step up and we need to do the right thing.”
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