Parkland Victim Father’s Fury At Report Colt Gray Got Gun For Christmas

The father of a girl killed in the 2018 Parkland school massacre has reacted with anger over a report that the teenager charged with Wednesday’s mass murder in Georgia was gifted an AR-15-style gun for Christmas.
Colt Gray, 14, allegedly opened fire at Apalachee High School, killing two students, two teachers and injuring nine others. He has been charged as an adult with four counts of murder. His father Colin Gray, 54, has been charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children.
Colin Gray told investigators he had bought an AR-15-style rifle used in Wednesday’s killings as a Christmas present for his son in December 2023, according to CNN law enforcement sources.
Fred Guttenberg—whose 14-year-old daughter Jamie was murdered when a former student killed 17 and injured 17 in the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Florida—reacted with fury.
Writing on X, formerly Twitter, he said: “THE FATHER BOUGHT THE F***ING GUN AS A CHRISTMAS PRESENT AFTER THE VISIT FROM THE FBI!!! This should be the moment that everyone can acknowledge the 2A, both gun rights activists and gun violence prevention activists, but also come to the realization that gun rights should never get in the way of preventing gun violence.
“This statement is not anti-gun, it is anti-gun violence. This should be a moment of common ground. Can we all agree that is not rational and this was preventable? Can we all agree that this father should face criminal charges? Can we all agree that a red flag law was warranted?”
He added: “Because this is Georgia, there was no red flag law. I hope they find a way to hold the father to account. He should rot in prison. My fight to reduce gun violence is because I truly believe that we can and must do more to stop these instances of gun violence and that we can do so in a way that is not an affront to gun owners or the 2A.”
The “red flag law” Guttenberg is referring to is also known as an extreme risk law, and it allows law enforcement, and sometimes family members, to petition for a court order to remove someone’s access to guns—often by taking them away.
Georgia does not have a version of this law, unlike New York and California, which allow law enforcement, immediate family members, employers, co-workers, teachers, roommates, people with a child in common or who have a dating relationship to apply for an order to remove someone’s access from guns. Newsweek has put together a breakdown of Georgia’s gun laws compared to other states here.
Meanwhile, others see the violence that took place on Wednesday as a sign for more guns, not fewer.
Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has long been a supporter of gun rights, said the school shooting showed the U.S. needs “more good guys with guns.”
She said: “We need to protect our kids in schools the same way Kamala Harris, Joe Biden and all our politicians are protected, the same way we protect gold and precious jewels, the same way we protect a lot of money. And that’s good guys with guns. And we always need to make sure we support our Second Amendment and not disarm legal gun owners simply because a madman with a gun chose to go in and murder people.”