TALLAHASSEE, FL—Fred Guttenberg, the father of a 14-year-old girl murdered at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School, is challenging leading Trump ally Rep. Randy Fine to a debate after the Lawmaker doubled down on his plan to let college students carry guns on campus.
Guttenberg called it lunacy.
"It is lunatics like [Fine] who have made gun violence more likely in America. Randy, my daughter was killed in the Parkland school shooting and so I take gun violence seriously," Guttenberg posted on X Saturday, seemingly enraged by Fine's plan. "When you put this forward, I hope you plan for some real debate. I hope you call me as a witness to speak for more than one minute...Let me explain to you how I think your ideas on this will lead to more parents burying more children who were killed because they simply went to college,"
"Don't be weak and afraid. Let's debate."
Guttenberg, who is Jewish, responded to Fine's Saturday call for guns on college campuses after two Jewish students at the University of Pittsburgh were attacked with a glass bottle by a 52-year-old man adorned in a Palestinian keffiyeh. Fine is a staunch pro-Israel advocate and the sole Jewish Republican in the state Legislature.
"It's unfortunate that these students were not carrying in order to put the Nazi down. This is why I will be introducing legislation next session to end college campuses as gun-free zones," Fine posted, doubling down on his April announcement that he would file this bill in the 2025 Legislative Session. "Your second amendment rights don't end because woke queer studies "professors" don't like them."
Guttenberg accused Fine of weaponizing the antisemitic attack to "push your agenda of gun-free zones on college campuses." He slammed the Lawmaker, who is running for state Senate, for voting in favor of abolishing concealed carry permits in 2023 and pointed out that Fine—unlike Guttenberg—did not spend time with families whose loved ones were murdered in the 2018 Tree of Life Temple shooting in Pittsburgh. The assailant killed eleven people with an AR-15-style rifle and wounded six others, including four responding police officers.
It was the deadliest attack ever on Jews in the United States.
Fine declined to debate, saying he usually doesn't engage with people who call him a lunatic. "Not sure it helps your cause to call someone who voted for the Stoneman Douglas bill—and was primaried in part because of it—crazy," he told Guttenberg, pointing out that he voted to raise the long-gun buying age from 18 to 21 after the 2018 Parkland massacre.
This year, however, Fine and a slew of House Republicans passed a bill that reverses the Parkland law by lowering the gun-buying age back to 18. The bill was never introduced in the Senate, so it died.
"I can only imagine your constant pain. If it makes you feel even a little bit better to call me names, do it as much as you'd like," Fine continued. "Your daughter was killed because the government failed to protect her. I'm going to do my best to stop that from happening to other parents. I will be introducing the legislation."
On Valentine's Day 2018, 18-year-old Nikolas Cruz opened fire on Parkland, Florida's Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School with an AR-15. He murdered 14 students and three staff in cold blood, including Guttenberg's 14-year-old daughter Jaime. She was a performing dancer who hoped to become an occupational therapist and mother. She always stood up for bullied kids, Fox 13 News reported.
As of July 11th, 2024, there have been 35 school-related shootings nationwide this year. That number hovered between 18 to 22 from 2008-2009, sharply dropped from 2010 to 2012, and then doubled in 2013 for a total of 26 school shootings. It slowly rose in 2014 and 2015, before hitting a whopping 51 total in 2016. It hovered in the 40 to 50 range until 2020 (where there was no school for most of the year) before hitting a record high of 73, then 79, and then 82 in 2021, 2022, and 2023, respectively.
