GOP Candidate Tells Parkland Father to ‘Stop Exploiting His Daughter’s Death’

Jaime Guttenberg was one of 17 people killed inside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL in the mass shooting on Valentine’s Day. And now, Javier Manjarres, who is running for office in Florida’s 22nd Congressional District, has attacked Jaime’s father, Fred Guttenberg, on Twitter.

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According to Manjarres, Guttenberg should stop “exploiting” his daughter’s death by calling for gun control legislation. In addition, he said that Guttenberg’s daughter, who was 14 years old at the time of her death, was “shot by some lunatic who had an AR-15, not by the gun itself.” 

Manjarres wrote in a tweet:

“C’mon Fred. I can’t only imagine the pain you are feeling over the loss of your daughter, but stop exploiting her death in the name of some political agenda. Your daughter was shot by some lunatic who had an AR-15, not by the gun itself. #Fixit #VoteJavi.”

Manjarres was responding to a tweet from Guttenberg that slammed National Rifle Association (NRA) spokeswoman Dana Loesch for an Independence Day tweet calling for Budweiser beer, rifles and fireworks.

Guttenberg said he assumed Loesch’s tweet was supposed to be “cute” but called the tweet another example of the spokeswoman’s “inability to say or do the right thing.” 

Guttenberg responded by telling Manjarres that gun safety is his priority following the shooting death of his daughter:

“The new tactic of the gun lobby, even the irresponsible people running for congress, is to accuse me of exploiting my daughter.  I will always fight for her memory and to change what was done. You cannot imagine my pain, and so don’t include that lie. My agenda is gun safety.”

“If you call honesty around gun safety exploitation, then you clearly have a political agenda,” he wrote.

“By the way, my daughter  had a name and it was Jaime. Next week she would have turned 15 but because some lunatic had access to this weapon, my daughter will be forever 14,” Guttenberg added.

Guttenberg said he would do anything in his power to prevent Manjarres from being elected.

“You have had your own issues with gun safety. I will do everything I possibly can to make sure you do not sniff the halls of Congress,” he tweeted. “And please, do not mention my daughter again.”

In the end, Guttenberg was both defiant and determined to win in November. In his final tweet to Manjarres he wrote:

“#ORANGEWAVEINNOVEMBER. We will deal with candidates like this, we will win, and we will get common sense gun safety passed.”

This will be the best way for Jaime’s father, and for all of us, to honor Jaime’s memory and to make sure she did not give her life in vain.

Leo Vidal

I am a lifelong Democrat with a passion for social justice and progressive issues. I have degrees in writing, economics and law from the University of Iowa.