PARKLAND, Fla. – U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz remembered the victims of the Parkland school shooting Tuesday, five years to the day after a gunman took 17 lives at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
Moskowitz, a Democrat who was serving in the state legislature at the time of the Feb. 14, 2018 shooting, is an MSD alum.
He was elected to Congress in 2022.
The congressman, joined by fellow Democratic U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost, attended a ceremony to remember the victims at Pine Trails Park, not only to express their sympathy with the MSD victims’ families, but to express their belief that more work still needs to be done to prevent further tragedies.
Moskowitz pointed out one recent success that he thinks is going to make a difference.
He hailed the bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which was passed in the last Congress and signed into law by President Biden last year, which made changes to the gun purchasing process while also addressing mental health.
He said the law was a big step in the right direction, but said even more work needs to be done, especially in this divided Congress.
“(We) first broke a 30-Year logjam last Congress and the 117th. And while that bill was necessary, it clearly was not sufficient. But it is progress,” Moskowitz said. “Things do happen slower in Washington. I mean, look, in football, you can’t always throw a Hail Mary, you have to move the ball five and 10 yards. And I think Maxwell and I recognize that while we want to ban assault weapons, and that’s our North Star, you know, while we’re trying to get the votes for that.”
Moskowitz said he and other lawmakers have to be “working on other issues, because it’s about mitigation.”
“Everything we do saves a life, saves 100 lives or saves 500 lives,” he said.
The event was one of many planned in honor of the victims.