Activist Dad Of Parkland Shooting Victim Joins Anti-Gun Group

MIAMI, FL — The father of a 14-year-old girl killed during the 2018 Parkland school shooting announced Thursday that he has joined a leading anti-gun group. Fred Guttenberg will serve as a senior adviser to Brady PAC.

"After his daughter Jaime was murdered in Parkland, Fred became a tenacious advocate for electing leaders who will stand for change," Brady PAC tweeted following the announcement. "We're proud to join forces in honor of Jaime."

Guttenberg said he is honored to join the anti-gun violence group to help pass gun safety legislation and promote like-minded political candidates around the country ahead of next year's midterm elections.

"We are also closer than we have ever been to losing the chance," he said. "It will come down to the next election."

Guttenberg joins Brady PAC one day after Nikolas Cruz — the gunman who carried out the massacre of students and faculty members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland on Feb. 14, 2018 — pleaded guilty in a Broward County courtroom Wednesday to 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder, CNN reported.

According to WPLG-TV, the 23-year-old apologized in court for the shooting and said nightmares of the shooting have haunted him ever since.

Three years ago, Cruz, who was 19 years old at the time, killed 14 students and three staff members during a seven-minute rampage through the school, using an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle to shoot victims in hallways and classrooms. Prior to the shooting, he was recently expelled from the school for disciplinary reasons, NBC News reported.

Cruz faces life in prison and possibly the death penalty. A jury will ultimately decided his fate. According to Guttenberg, Cruz doesn't deserve to sit behind bars.

“I want that killer to pay for this with his life," Guttenberg told CBS News. "The past three years have been torture."

In February 2020, Guttenberg attended President Donald Trump's State of the Union address and began yelling after the Republican president said, “I will always protect your Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.” Guttenberg was escorted out and later apologized via Twitter.

Guttenberg also drew attention in Congress in September 2018 when he attempted to shake hands with Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh during a break at the latter’s Senate confirmation hearing. Kavanaugh looked at him, turned and walked away. Kavanaugh later said that he had assumed Guttenberg was a protester and that he would have expressed his sympathy and shaken Guttenberg's hand had he recognized him before being whisked away by his security detail. Kavanaugh was confirmed to the court.

According to its website, Brady PAC is a bipartisan, nonprofit political action committee that supports and defends candidates who champion sensible gun laws. It is the political arm of a nonprofit named in honor of former White House press secretary James Brady, who suffered a bullet wound to his head in the assassination attempt against President Ronald Reagan outside the Washington Hilton Hotel in 1981.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.