Florida Gov. Rick Scott was heavily booed Wednesday night for refusing to show up at a live, televised town hall on guns hosted by CNN.

His absence was raised by Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., who praised Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., for attending.

"My colleague, Sen. Rubio, and I have a good relationship, we get a lot of stuff done. And I want you to know that I told him before we came out here tonight that he had guts coming here," Nelson said.

"In fact, there is no representative of the state of Florida. Our governor did not come here, Gov. Scott," Nelson said as the crowd booed. "But Marco did."

Rubio said later that he's not courageous for showing up.

"Being here isn't courage," he said, citing the experiences of the victims of the shooting. "That's courage."