The father of a 14-year-old who was killed in the 2018 Parkland school shooting thinks Republican National Convention attendees’ fake ear bandages are disrespectful to people who were actually injured in last week’s assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.
“This image infuriates me in ways that I cannot express deeply enough,” Fred Guttenberg wrote in a social media post Thursday, alongside a picture of three people at the RNC in Milwaukee with what appear to be napkins covering their right ears.
Attendees of the quadrennial Republican gathering have been attaching napkins to their heads to mimic a bandage worn by Trump, who said his ear was “pierced” by a bullet at a Saturday campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
“My daughter while running into a stairwell at her school for safety was unlucky by 1 second,” Guttenberg said. “Trump was lucky by one second. To mock my loss from AR 15-gun violence is disgusting beyond all measure.”
Guttenberg’s daughter, Jaime, was a freshman at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, when she was shot and killed by a 19-year-old who formerly attended the school. Sixteen other students and staff members were also killed.
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While Trump escaped his assassination attempt with a bloodied ear, Guttenberg noted that others at his rally were grievously injured and one was killed.
“As a reminder, someone also died in this shooting that they are mocking,” he said of RNC attendees, before hinting that he may now give more credence to baseless conspiracy theories that have circulated since Saturday.
“I have ignored all of the conspiracy theories this week about this shooting and how it happened. Looking now at the way Trump and this crowd are milking this in a staged and produced way does lead me to wonder.”
Kris Brown, the president of gun safety advocacy group Brady, criticized the fake ear bandages as well.