The June 12 attack that killed 49 people in a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, sparked a war over wording. The debate is about more than semantics, and it extends far beyond the U.S.
It was a hate crime or a mass shooting. It was the work of a "mentally disturbed individual" or a radicalized "lone wolf." Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, blasted U.S. President Barack Obama for refusing to call it "radical Islamic terrorism" -- perhaps to justify his proposed ban on Muslims entering the U.S. Obama called it all "a political distraction."
