On Thursday's Katy Tur Reports on MSNBC, fill-in host Jose Diaz-Balart gave an unchallenged forum to anti-gun activist Fred Guttenberg to trash President Donald Trump and Republicans after the shooting at Florida State University. Guttenberg became a vocal anti-gun activist after he lost his 14-year-old daughter Jaime in the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland in 2018.
As Guttenberg recalled that he knows several FSU students who were also attending the high school in Parkland back then, he referred back to a clip of President Donald Trump from earlier in the show and showed his disdain for the President's recent actions to loosen gun control:
Seeing the opening to this news segment with the current occupant of the White House who was also the President when my daughter was killed angers me beyond measure because of what he failed to do back then. It angers me beyond measure that, for the past 30 days, he has been systematically undoing -- undoing everything good that we did during the Biden years -- the office of gun violence prevention -- all of the measures to implement this through the bipartisan Safer Communities Act -- bipartisan legislation. All of the executive actions -- he has been systematically undoing every single one of them. And so anyone who's surprised that he will do nothing after today, you shouldn't be.
Diaz-Balart did not push back on this first jab at Republicans as the MSNBC host merely responded with a rambling question in which he asked his guest what he would say to the families of the victims in this shooting. Guttenberg eventually got back to lambasting Republicans as he complained about efforts in the Florida legislature to loosen gun laws. After insisting that mass shootings are "uniquely American," he added:
...rather than spending the last few months doing everything possible to take the additional steps to reduce gun violence, here in the Florida legislature, they've been taking steps to make gun violence more possible. They want to roll back the law that we passed after Parkland. They tried to roll back the age of 21 that we passed. There are others that want to roll back the red flag laws. It's the stupidest, most insane behavior, but that's what's currently happening in the Florida legislature in Tallahassee where this shooting just happened.
I hope and I pray -- yes, I have thoughts and prayers that every Republican who has been behind the effort to do that stands up today and says, "I was wrong," that "I want to respect gun rights." Every Republican should say that, but they should also say, "I respect life, and I want to do everything possible to protect those we love from being the victims of the next mass shooting.
Transcript follows:
MSNBC's Katy Tur Reports
April 17, 2025
3:16 p.m. Eastern
FRED GUTTENBERG, FATHER OF PARKLAND SCHOOL SHOOTING VICTIM: I know kids who I've spoken with this afternoon who were not only in the 1200 building at Parkland but were in that student union today. And so I am -- to say I've spent the afternoon kind of shaking would be an understatement. Seeing the opening to this news segment with the current occupant of the White House who was also the President when my daughter was killed angers me beyond measure because of what he failed to do back then. It angers me beyond measure that, for the past 30 days, he has been systematically undoing -- undoing everything good that we did during the Biden years -- the office of gun violence prevention -- all of the measures to implement this through the bipartisan Safer Communities Act -- bipartisan legislation. All of the executive actions -- he has been systematically undoing every single one of them. And so anyone who's surprised that he will do nothing after today, you shouldn't be.
JOSE DIAZ-BALART: There is always the, you know, thoughts and comments of people after something like this happens, and, you know, we don't know, Fred, how many people have -- I mean, we're saying six or so injured. We don't know how -- what kind of injuries they have sustained, but, Fred, how do -- talk -- as I've asked you when we were speaking after Uvalde. And, as you and I have spoken after so many of these tragedies, I ask you to do something that only you and a handful of others unfortunately -- it's a lot of people -- but only you can do, which is to speak to the families of, in this case, the one person that has lost their lives. We don't know who that is, but speak to that family. Speak to those people who, right now, have their children in lockdown or are just terrified of what they witnessed or what they heard. And so -- so -- so I ask you as I've asked you unfortunately so many times, Fred: Speak to them.
(...)
GUTTENBERG: ... I can't believe that we're doing this again. This is uniquely American -- don't let anybody tell you that it's not. If people want to fully understand why I get so angry when I talk about this, it's not because I'm anti-gun. It's because I hate gun violence, and we can do something about gun violence. We've got to stop allowing those who should not have access to weapons to have that easy access to weapons.
You know, Jose, you're here in Florida. You know as well as I do, rather than spending the last few months doing everything possible to take the additional steps to reduce gun violence, here in the Florida legislature, they've been taking steps to make gun violence more possible. They want to roll back the law that we passed after Parkland. They tried to roll back the age of 21 that we passed. There are others that want to roll back the red flag laws. It's the stupidest, most insane behavior, but that's what's currently happening in the Florida legislature in Tallahassee where this shooting just happened.
I hope and I pray -- yes, I have thoughts and prayers that every Republican who has been behind the effort to do that stands up today and says, "I was wrong," that "I want to respect gun rights." Every Republican should say that, but they should also say, "I respect life, and I want to do everything possible to protect those we love from being the victims of the next mass shooting.
