In the immediate aftermath of the horrific shooting Sunday at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando that left 50 people dead, and another 53 wounded in the worst mass shooting in American history, many took to social media to express their shock, horror, and grief, as well as to offer their prayers and condolences to both the victims and the victims' families. However, for all of the wealth of kind sentiment, it should be remembered that our publicly elected officials have the power to change the laws to prevent horrific incidents like this from happening again.
One person who hasn't forgotten this is Igor Volsky, a popular social media commentator, and Deputy Director, Center for American Progress Action Fund. In the wake of events like the one that took place in Orlando, and one that happened just a few months back in San Bernadino, Volsky has made it his mission to call out politicians who take to social media to share their best wishes for those affected by these awful tragedies for the large campaign contributions that they receive from gun lobbyists.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
.@NRA dumped $922K into McConnell's re-elect, so he voted against stopping people on terror list from buying guns https://t.co/W9dVwBZ959
— igorvolsky (@igorvolsky) June 12, 2016
The President Pro Tempore of the Senate Orrin Hatch.
![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 203 115"%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Sen.@OrrinHatch received $97,848 in expenditures from @NRA & voted against barring terrorists from getting guns https://t.co/A064ir58Xh
— igorvolsky (@igorvolsky) June 12, 2016
The Senior Senator from Texas John Cornyn.
Sen @JohnCornyn got $15,909 in expenditures from @NRA so voted against measure restricting guns to terrorists in Dec https://t.co/3ObobdOMKT
— igorvolsky (@igorvolsky) June 12, 2016
Senator Tom Cotton from Arkansas who took a staggering $2,581,794 from the NRA.
Sen @TomCottonAR received $2,581,794 in expenditures from NRA, so he voted against closing terror gap back in Dec https://t.co/XEOVJHjL5d
— igorvolsky (@igorvolsky) June 12, 2016
Senator Pat Roberts from Kansas.
.@SenPatRoberts got $322,453+ in expenditures from @NRA, so his response to biggest mass shooting will be this tweet https://t.co/sYx4C8UqbS
— igorvolsky (@igorvolsky) June 12, 2016
Senator Cory Gardner from Colorado.
.@SenCoryGardner go $1,544,783 from @NRA. don't expect him to do anything about limiting access to assault weapons https://t.co/WmU1cpOv2M
— igorvolsky (@igorvolsky) June 12, 2016
Senator Ron Johnson from Wisconsin.
.@SenRonJohnson accepted $1.3 million+ from gun rights groups, so all you'll get are his #ThoughtsAndPrayers https://t.co/aIANKnToTD
— igorvolsky (@igorvolsky) June 12, 2016
The Chairman of the House Rules Committee, Representative Pete Sessions.
.@PeteSessions got $80,000 from @NRA since 1994 so all he can do is pray about mass shootings https://t.co/fm7bfirzSd
— igorvolsky (@igorvolsky) June 12, 2016
Congressman Jeff Duncan from South Carolina.
Volsky's retweets provide a much needed reminder that it's important to know who's representing you and your concerns, and those who are beholden to different interests when incidents like this arise.