Gun Control Activist Says Parkland Parent Supports Children Being Massacred: ‘YES!’
Update: This story has been edited to include Po Murray’s response which was received Oct. 18.
PARKLAND (FLV) – Po Murray, co-founder and chairwoman of the Newtown Action Alliance, said she believes a parent who lost a child in the Parkland school shooting supports children being massacred, according to her Twitter page.
Ryan Petty, who lost his daughter Alaina in the Parkland school shooting in 2018, said “I don’t support an assault weapons ban. Do you believe I support children being massacred, Po?”
Murray responded, “YES!”
Petty’s question follows a previous tweet made by Po stating, “If you don’t support the assault weapons ban then you support one of the worst crimes in America — children being massacred by a shooter with an AR15 in an elementary school.”
“You are a hack and a grifter. Your moronic gun free zones are why my daughter is dead. You shall not infringe on our right to protect ourselves & our loved ones. Go crawl back under a rock,” Petty tweeted to Murray.
In a statement to Florida’s Voice, Petty said:
“Po’s original assertion that if you don’t support an “assault weapons” ban then you support children being massacred is ridiculous on its face. It’s not surprising that she responded to me saying she believes I want children massacred. It’s was a moment of honesty from an authoritarian that will stop at nothing to force you to live according to her values.”
Ryan Petty to Florida’s Voice
Florida’s Voice received the following response from Po regarding her Tweet:
I honestly didn’t know he was the father of a Parkland victim and when I found out it was too late. The vitriolic responses started flooding in. I thought he was another racist gun extremist like the ones who often respond to my tweets […] We know now that AR15s are the weapons of choice for school shooters to hunt and massacre children in schools and other mass shooters to hunt anyone anywhere. Therefore, it is my opinion that people either support the assault weapons ban or support the status quo of school shooters using weapons of war to decapitate children in classrooms.
Po Murray to Florida’s Voice
Since the tragic school shooting in 2018, Petty and his wife Kelly have been advocates for improving school safety through early identification and intervention of potential threats.
Petty was appointed in March 2018 by Florida Gov. Rick Scott to serve on the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Public Safety Commission as well as being appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis to the Florida State Board of Education in January of 2020.
Petty is also a board member of Stand With Parkland and is the co-founder of The WalkUp Foundation.
At a campaign event for Gov. Ron DeSantis, one of the parents who’s daughter was a victim of the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting in Parkland – Andrew Pollack – had strong words for Democrats, the media, and some of the students who advocated for gun control afterwards.
“After the shooting, I had to do my own investigation, right? You had the media, Democrats, local officials, those jerkoff kids that did that march. They went and accomplished nothing. When it came time for accountability and the cameras weren’t here, they disappeared,” Pollack said.
Nikolas Cruz was recommended to receive life in prison by a jury last week for the Parkland shooting.
The decision received immediate backlash. DeSantis said Cruz should have gotten the death penalty.
“I just don’t think anything else is appropriate except the capital sentence in this case and so I was very disappointed to see that,” said DeSantis. “I think that if you have a death penalty at all, that that is a case where you’re massacring those students, with premeditation and utter disregard for basic humanity that you deserve the death penalty.”
