The father of a 14-year-old girl killed in the Parkland, Florida, school shooting is channeling his sadness and anger into action and bringing his message against gun violence to a group of Virginia high school students.
Fred Guttenberg's daughter Jaime was one of 17 people shot and killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February.
Despite losing his daughter, Guttenberg has found the strength to speak on gun violence since the shooting.
"When I don't do this, I cry," he said.
On Wednesday, he visited lawmakers on Capitol Hill and spoke to students and parents at T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Virginia, as part of a townhall meeting about guns in schools.
"No other parent should ever go through what my family and 16 other families from Parkland are now going through," Guttenberg said at the townhall.
Congressman Don Beyer of Virginia and Florida Congressman Ted Deutch also spoke at the public meeting. They each called for a ban on assault weapons, expanded background checks on gun purchases and making schools safer.
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"Show that you stand for common sense gun safety. You do not stand for the B-S that is going through D.C. now and that you want to see change," Guttenberg said.
He told News4 earlier Wednesday that his daughter's classmates have helped to inspire him to speak out against gun violence.
"The students are my heroes. All they want to do is go to school and be safe and what I make of it first is, you know, I was kind of worried about the youth of America because they live on their cellphones and I didn't think they knew how to communicate and I was wrong....These kids have been fantastic. They know how to communicate and they are fierce and the phone became their weapon," he said.
