The prevalence of gun violence in the U.S., especially at its schools, has turned even some moderate legislators into staunch supporters of stricter gun control laws.
Democrat Darren Soto, a representative from Florida’s 9th district, was one of them.
“As a lawyer who got into the state legislature, I was always a strong advocate of our Constitutional rights,” the congressman told Cheddar on Thursday, the day after a gunman killed 17 students and teachers at a Parkland, Fla., high school.
“But when Sandy Hook happened, I really got the full sense of the horror and the tragedy of these mass shootings. That was when I was in the Florida House. And from then, I really took a turn to fight for many different gun reforms.”
Soto’s comments come as Nikolas Cruz was charged with 17 counts of murder for the Parkland shooting. The nineteen-year-old was reportedly part of a white supremacist group and had previously posted videos and social media messages showing him with a variety of guns and claiming he wanted to be a “professional school shooter.”
President Trump addressed the shooting Thursday morning, calling for steps to address mental illness, but did not mention anything about gun control.
That may not have come as a surprise to Soto, who spoke with Cheddar before the President made his statement. He said Republicans have blocked hearings on a number of measures sponsored by Democrats, from closing the gun show loophole to preventing those on the no-fly list from buying weapons to a ban on so-called bump stocks.
And one of those bills might have prevented Wednesday's events.
"How did this young man get guns as a troubled youth?" he asked. "I suspect it could have been this gun show loophole. It could have been a personal exchange. Therefore there is no background check and no ability to police folks who normally wouldn't get firearms getting them through this glaring loophole."
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/rep-darren-soto-d-fl-calls-for-action-after-another-unspeakable-tragedy).
Fintech companies are taking notice of the rapid growth in esports, and Quicken Loans has partnered with 100 Thieves, a League of Legends expansion team. Quicken CMO Casey Hurbis said this venture opened the company's eyes to the endless possibilities of esports and its personalities.
The Twitter Esports Business Summit ran from Oct. 1-3, and it held its focus on the growing market of esports and how Twitter fits into the business. Rishi Chadha, head of gaming content partnerships at Twitter, said the company is focusing on the communities that foster players and fans, as well as publishers and developers of different platforms.
The team became the first in the NBA to introduce GIFs for the Facebook platform. Sandro Gasparro, director of social media for the Los Angeles Clippers, told Cheddar it's not just another way to promote engagement, but can also connect fans to players on a more personal level.
Ralf Reichert, CEO of ESL, sat down with Cheddar at this weekend's tournament at the Barclays Center and talked about the esports world and what he believes is needed for the enterprise to grow.
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Ron Darling, a former MLB starting pitcher and current TBS baseball analyst, said the easiest way to attract younger people to baseball is to get more kids playing it when they're kids. Darling said there are more children opting out of football due to concerns about head injuries, and those athletes should be primed to take up a different sport.
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18Birdies has seen success as a one-stop shop for golfers, both amateur and pro, gaining 1.3 million members since its launch. The app lets players book tee times, navigate a new course, and choose the right club. But CEO Eddy Lui says the main goal is to create a community ー a social network ー of golfers.
The blockchain has made its way into a slew of industries. Next at bat ー the sports world. The Los Angeles Dodgers are moving away from traditional promotions and have begun using crypto tokens to give away digital bobbleheads to fans. Ralph Esquibel, VP of information technology for the team, said this is the first giveaway of its kind and could lead to more experiments with cryptocurrencies.
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