ORLANDO, Fla. — U.S. House candidate Maxwell Alejandro Frost, who is running as a Democrat in the primary for Florida's 10th Congressional District, disrupted an event featuring a conversation between conservative political commentator Dave Rubin and Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The confrontation, which Frost posted to his Twitter account, happened Thursday at The Plaza Live – one of Orlando's oldest theaters.
The 35-second clip shows Frost up near the stage.
"Gov. DeSantis, we're losing 100 people a day due to gun violence. Governor, we need you to take action on gun violence," Frost shouted.
"Nobody wants to hear from you," DeSantis responded.
"Floridians are dying," Frost yelled back, later adding "kids are dying."
Frost, who was guided out of the theater, wasn't the only person to disrupt the event.
High school student activist Jack Petocz, who said he was suspended in March after organizing a walkout in protest of the Florida law limiting classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity, also showed up to the event and yelled toward the stage.
"Gov. DeSantis, why don't you care about my life," Petocz shouted. "Why don't you care about my life? Governor, why are you making it easier – why are you making it easier for dangerous people to get guns?"
"Why do you want to make it easier to put guns in the hands of dangerous people?" asked Jen Cousins, yet another activist who interrupted the event.
The outbursts from activists follow recent high-profile shootings in Tulsa, Uvalde and Buffalo. Just last week, Democratic Texas gubernatorial nominee Beto O'Rourke confronted Republican Gov. Greg Abbott during a news conference over the deadly shooting at Robb Elementary School.
While none of the most recent mass shootings were in Florida, guns have been at the top of people's minds.
As recently as last month, DeSantis was pushing for Florida to become more of a "leader" in promoting 2nd Amendment rights. He indicated he wanted Florida to have a "Constitutional Carry" law in place by the time he left the governor's office. Such a law would allow anyone to carry a concealed firearm whether or not they had a license.
"We used to be a leader on 2nd Amendment [rights] — there's like 25 states that have already done it, and I think if you look now, you have a situation where the official in charge of these permits doesn't support 2nd Amendment rights. So why would you want to subcontract your Constitutional rights to a public official who rejects the very existence of those rights?" DeSantis said previously.
Thursday night, President Joe Biden implored Congress to take federal action to restore a ban on the sale of assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines.
In the wake of the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, a bipartisan group of Florida lawmakers came together to pass "red flag" legislation that was ultimately signed by then-Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican.
It has since been used thousands of times to temporarily block potentially-dangerous people from buying or having firearms. Democratic lawmakers are now pushing for Florida to further expand the law.