Parkland Father: Tombstone Unveiling Reinforced Decision To Take On Gun Lobby
Fred Guttenberg attempts to shake Brett Kavanaugh’s hand. Image by Getty Images
Fred Guttenberg, the father of Jaime Guttenberg, speaking with Marco Rubio during a town hall televised on CNN Wednesday. Image by YouTube
Nearly a year since the tragic shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, one victim’s father shared on Twitter about the unveiling of her tombstone.
Fred Guttenberg buried his 14-year-old daughter Jaime shortly after the February 14 massacre.
Yesterday we had the unveiling of Jaime’s tombstone. In the Jewish religion, it is a ceremony that happens approx one year after burial. For us, it was reliving this pain all over again. I should have spend these past few months planning her Sweet 16 and instead, I did this.
— Fred Guttenberg (@fred_guttenberg) January 21, 2019
“At the unveiling, I spoke of her loss and I spoke of the fact that I am still her dad,” he continued. “As her dad, I will never stop dealing with what happened to her. Yesterday only reinforced how tragic and unfair this was.”
A vocal advocate for gun control, Guttenberg used his platform and this occasion to continue to spread a message of resilience message.
“Yesterday only reinforced for me my original decision to weaken the gun lobby,” he wrote. “Yesterday only reinforced for me my mission to remove the gun lobby from the legislative process of gun safety. Kids should come home to parents and parents should go home to kids.”
Yesterday only reinforced for me my original decision to weaken the gun lobby. Yesterday only reinforced for me my mission to remove the gun lobby from the legislative process of gun safety. Kids should come home to parents and parents should go home to kids.
— Fred Guttenberg (@fred_guttenberg) January 21, 2019
Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at [email protected], or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
