“More Love. Less Hate.”
That was the heartfelt message on the screen during a prayer vigil at Joy Metropolitan Community Church in Orlando, Florida, hours after the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
The gunman, Omar Mateen, killed 50 club-goers and critically injured dozens more at Pulse, a gay nightclub south of the city’s downtown early Sunday.
From North Carolina to New York, from Connecticut to Texas, Americans held vigils for the victims.
Here are some images from the Sunday evening gatherings as a nation mourned the latest mass shooting.
Runners pass under the the flags flying at half-staff around the Washington Monument at daybreak in Washington, Monday, June 13, 2016. The flags were ordered to half-staff by President Barack Obama to honor the victims of the Orlando nightclub shootings. (AP Photo/J. David Ake)
Paul Cox, right, leans on the shoulder of Brian Sullivan, as they observe a moment of silence during a vigil for a fatal shooting at an Orlando nightclub, Sunday, June 12, 2016, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
Jeffrey Erikson and Jamie Fernandez hold each other during a moment of silence at a vigil in Cal Anderson Park in Seattle for the victims of a mass shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla., Sunday, June 12, 2016. (Genna Martin/seattlepi.com via AP)
A woman cries and holds flowers in front of a makeshift memorial to remember the victims of a mass shooting in Orlando, Fla., in New York, Sunday, June 12, 2016. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
Brett Morian, from Daytona Beach, hugs an attendee during the candlelight vigil at Ember in Orlando, Fla., on Sunday, June 12, 2016. (Joshua Lim/Orlando Sentinel via AP)
A couple embraces as people gather in front of a makeshift memorial in New York to remember the victims of a mass shooting in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
A man looks over an impromptu candle-lit memorial set up in Sydney, Monday, June 13, 2016, following the Florida mass shooting at the Pulse Orlando nightclub Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said that the Orlando mass shooting was “an attack on all of us — on all our freedoms, the freedom to gather together, to celebrate, to share time with friends.” (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
Rachel Henry, left, and Selene Arciga, kiss to show their solidarity with members and supporters of the LGBT gathered for a candlelight vigil in front of the White House in Washington, Sunday, June 12, 2016, in support for the victims and their families and friends, who were killed and injured in a massacre at an Orlando nightclub. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Former Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra and Shawn Lang of Hartford embrace after Segarra spoke Sunday, June 12, 2016, during a vigil organized by the state’s Muslim and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities Sunday evening on the steps of the state Capitol building in reaction to the mass shooting in Orlando, Fla, Holding gay pride flags behind Segarra and Lang are from left, Fioroella Hidalgo, Becky Muniz (hat), Stephen Vetter and Charlie Ortiz. (John Woike/Hartford Courant via AP)
Members LGBT community light candles in solidarity with Florida’s shooting attack victims, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday, June 12, 2016. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
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And now I’m crying again.
I tire of politicians bandying back and forth on the issue of gun violence. “Oh, look at the other side politicizing… Oh, we don’t want to politicize…”
I do want to politicize this. I want the subject of mental health and gun culture in this country to be the number one political issue in the next election. I want politicians to stand up and say, “Enough is enough. More American’s are killed with guns in a month than in all terrorist attacks against this country combined. This is an issue that surpasses national security, it affects more lives than foreign wars. It needs to end and it needs to end today.”