By Peter Burrows 6/12/25

Today marks 9th anniversary of the most murderous act of hatred in the history of this country. In the early morning hours of June 12, 2015, Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old American born Muslim, shot and killed 49 people and injured another 53 at The Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.

As I scan the newspapers today, I don't see any mention of this. Why not? If a white supremacist had gone into a black church and killed 49 people and wounded 53 more, there would be Memorial services all over the country, and politicians of both parties would be gravely warning us of the moral imperative for America to stamp out bigotry, racism, etc., etc., ad nauseum.

The reason The Pulse nightclub massacre is not being commemorated reflects the moral hierarchy of both victim and victimizer in woke America, as well as rank hypocrisy. Black victims and a white shooter, we'd be hearing a lot about it. So, too, if the gays had been shot by a straight, white Christian. Considering June is "Pride Month," we can be sure that straight white Christians would be demonized.

As it was, the shooter was a Muslim, and Muslims killing white gays will not be remembered in the press or from the pulpit, because Muslims, along with gays, are oppressed victims in America, and in fact are even MORE oppressed. Just a mentally disturbed individual who happened to be a Muslim. Move along folks, nothing to see here.

This, despite Mateen declaring himself a devout Muslim on a 911 call while he was doing the shooting: "Praise be to God and prayers as well as peace be upon the prophet of God." On his Facebook page, he pledged allegiance to the leader of the then nascent state of ISIS, and wrote, "may Allah accept me."

Over the next two days ISIS declared Mateen an "Islamic State fighter" and "one of the soldiers of the Caliphate in America" who had "attacked a nightclub for homosexuals." In this, he was only obeying Muhammad: "Kill the one who sodomizes and the one who lets it be done to him." (Reliance of the Traveller(sic), A Classic Manuel of Islamic Sacred Law, page 665.)

I'm reminded of all this because less than two weeks ago in Boulder, CO, Muhamed Sabry Soliman, an Egyptian-born Muslim, threw Molotov cocktails at a group of elderly Jews who were marching to free hostages held by Hamas, injuring 15. Soliman, like Mateen, left no doubt about his motivation, telling his family: "I attest before Allah and before you that Allah, His Messenger, and Jihad for Alice's sake are more beloved to me than you and the whole world are."

Soliman, 45, had attempted to buy a gun but couldn't because he is not a citizen. The background check worked and probably saved a lot of lives. Soliman has lived in America since 2022 with his wife and five children, who now face deportation as their visas expired on March 28.

There was nothing about Soliman's behavior that suggested that he might be a threat to anybody, EXCEPT FOR THE FACT THAT HE IS A MUSLIM. Right on cue, the Boulder police chief said, "We are not calling it a terror attack at this point. It is way too early to speculate on a motive."

What is there to speculate about when the attacker has made his motive perfectly clear? I have wondered for many years when we're going to start believing the Muslims. I've come to the conclusion that we never will, and that the only option for people who feel threatened by Muslims is to protect themselves.

This is especially true for American Jews, most of whom, unfortunately, live in New York state, where it is extremely difficult to get a permit to carry a concealed gun. There are 26 states in which a concealed carry permit is not required for law abiding citizens, but New York is not one of them. (Nor is New Mexico.)

To circumvent this, I would suggest to President Trump that he issue an Executive Order authorizing the FBI to grant concealed carry permits. This would bypass state laws that essentially make self-defense illegal. Self-defense should not be something law-abiding citizens forfeit to criminals, ever.

Sadly. I'm afraid many liberal Jews would oppose this.