Parkland father: Politicians who don't support gun control “led us to” Uvalde shooting

Fred Guttenberg, father of Parkland school shooting victim Jaime Guttenberg, said that politicians who do not support gun control legislation “led us to” Tuesday's mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, where at least 14 students and one teacher were killed during an attack on an elementary school.

What they're saying: "They f***ing failed our kids again, OK? I'm done. I've had it. You know, how many more times?" Guttenberg said on MSNBC.

• "I'm going to listen to that governor of Texas talk about why he pushed to fight for laws in Texas that made it easier for the guns to be had by those who want to kill? How many more times? I don't — I mean, I'm sorry. I'm speechless. I don't know what to say," he added.
• "I am simply going to say this to the families there: You're going to go through pain. It's not right. And it shouldn't be. But I am here for you. And others will be here for you. You will be OK. You will find a path forward. But for the next bunch of days and weeks, you have to get through this. This horror. Because people failed."
• "This was predictable, but it was also preventable. Sadly, the next one that's going to happen is also predictable if we keep doing nothing."

Guttenberg specifically called on Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas to be "the Republican who says, 'I've had enough.'"

• "And so, I am begging Sen. Cruz. I sat with you in your office two years or so ago. I listened to your nonsense. I listened to your B.S. I listened to you explain to me why you thought we didn't need the bare minimum of effective background checks."

March for Our Lives, the student-led gun control advocacy group that emerged after the Parkland shooting, said in a statement the "sickening tragedy is the violent reality we’ve grown up to expect."

• "Here we are again, saying the same thing: the disgusting and shameful fact in America is that another shooting like this was just a matter of time because of our political leaders’ breathtaking disregard for our lives," the statement said.
• "We are enraged at the politicians who stand in the way of lifesaving change on both sides of the aisle. You’ve put a target on our backs."

Let’s be clear that this was a preventable tragedy. The regular mass murder of children like this is only “normal” in America. You can’t stop a bullet with thoughts and prayers. To honor those lost and save countless more lives, we need action. We’re dying while we wait for it.”

The other side: “Inevitably when there's a murderer of this kind, you see politicians try to politicize it, you see Democrats and a lot of folks in the media whose immediate solution is to try to restrict the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens,” Cruz told reporters in Congress after the shooting, according to CNN.

The big picture: The shooting in Uvalde comes just days after a gunman killed 10 people at a Buffalo supermarket shooting, which is being investigated as a hate crime and a case of racially motivated violent extremism.

Go deeper: 14 students, teacher dead in Texas elementary school shooting, Abbott says

Editor's note: This post was updated with quotes from Sen. Ted Cruz and the advocacy group March for Our Lives.