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Parkland Father: Tombstone Unveiling Reinforced Decision To Take On Gun Lobby

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.

“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.”

Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at [email protected], or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher

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