Florida Gov. Rick Scott said Tuesday he wants to know when the United States government is going to say "enough is enough" when it comes to stopping "the evil of radical Islam," and pointed out that President Barack Obama has yet to call him in the wake of Sunday morning's shootings in Orlando.
"If not now, when are we going to take this seriously?" Scott told Fox News'
"Fox and Friends" program. "This is an attack on Orlando, a gay nightclub, an attack on gays, an attack on Hispanics, and our country. When are we going to say enough is enough and say we are going to destroy ISIS, we're going to stop the evil of radical Islam. Is 49 [victims] enough?"
Scott said he received a call from former President George W. Bush, who told him that he and his wife Laura "were praying for us, and anything he could do he would love to be helpful." However, he said Obama has not yet called him personally, but had "a staffer" call him. Likewise, Florida Attorney Gen. Pam Bondi later told the program the president has not called her, either.
Meanwhile, all the Pulse nightclub shooting victims' families have been notified, Scott said, and he has been meeting with many of them.
"I met with a mom who knew her son had bled to death," the governor said. "He was in the nightclub and he bled to death. She believes her son was a hero. I talked to a dad and he said this has to stop. We have to think about how we're going to share information, how we're going to destroy ISIS. I talked to the family who thought their son was dead and just found out he was alive. I talked to a young man who has three gunshot wounds in his back. He's alive."
Further, Scott struck back at gun control, telling the program that "the Second Amendment didn't kill anybody, but evil, ISIS has killed."
He also called on further vetting for people coming into the United States.
"If you disagree with what with what our country believes in why are you allowed in our country?" Scott asked. "We have 49 people dead, murdered, 43 people in the hospital. I was at the hospital, [people are] still having surgeries. They're not sure they're going to live. When do we stop this?"
Scott said after the terror attacks in Paris in November 2015, he called the White House and asked for vetting information for any Syrian refugees coming into Florida, but he was refused.
"The White House said they will not share that information with the Florida law enforcement," said Scott. "They said, 'those people have privacy rights.'"
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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