Parkland massacre survivor David Hogg has slammed Marjorie Taylor Greene for “attacking survivors” of mass shootings as pressure grows on lawmakers to take action over the nation’s escalating gun violence.
Gun control activist Mr Hogg sparred with the far-right Georgia congresswoman on Twitter on Sunday, accusing her of trying to use him to “go viral” and to raise funds for her own campaign.
Mr Hogg cofounded the gun control advocacy group March For Our Lives in 2018 after surviving the mass shooting where 17 people were killed and 17 more injured in a mass shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on 14 February 2018.
The group staged its first huge demonstration in Washington DC that March calling for the passage of tighter gun regulations.
The group is now planning to hold its second huge protest this Saturday and hold meetings with lawmakers throughout the week after 19 young children and two teachers were murdered in the nation’s latest school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, back on 24 May.
Republican Rep Greene, who has come under fire for harassing 22-year-old Mr Hogg in the past, kicked off the spat by questioning why he wasn’t planning to meet her during his upcoming trip to the capital.
“I hear you & your girls are funded to come to town this week to once again try to manipulate some of my gutless weak colleagues to vote for gun control that will violate our freedoms and leave Americans defenseless,” she wrote.
“I don’t see you on my schedule, why not?”
The activist responded to Ms Greene’s comments, firing back that he is busy focusing on “protecting children” and meeting people who are interested in “commonsense” solutions to America’s gun violence.
“Congresswoman Greene, I’m more interested in protecting children and meeting commonsense people who are looking for reasonable solutions to stop children from dying,” he replied.
“Don’t really have time to help you go viral for attacking survivors so you can fundraise. Respectfully, David.”
The Georgia representative continued to fire back accusing him of being a “bully” to her colleagues.
“David, you fundraise for a living. If you wanted to fix it, you would discuss common sense solutions with me, someone who has also been on lockdown as a student when the only madman with a gun is another student who wants to kill people,” she tweeted.
“Not just bully my weak RINO colleagues.”
Ms Greene has previously claimed that her beliefs on guns come from a 1990 incident where a student held other students hostage with a gun at her high school.
The congresswoman was not among the hostages and a Forsyth County Schools spokesperson could not confirm whether she was at the school that day, reported The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
This isn’t the first time that Ms Greene has attacked Mr Hogg, who survived the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on 14 February 2018, where 17 people were killed and another 17 injured.
A video resurfaced last year of Ms Greene accosting Mr Hogg in 2019 when he came to the capital to urge lawmakers to pass red flag laws.
The Republican, who was not elected to Congress at the time, followed the then-19-year-old around asking him: “David, why are you supporting red-flag laws that attack our Second Amendment rights?”
The far-right congresswoman has also previously come under fire when resurfaced social media posts showed she pushed false claims that the Parkland and Sandy Hook mass shootings were “staged”.
While a meeting between Mr Hogg and Ms Greene doesn’t appear likely, the congresswoman did receive an offer of a meeting from another advocate of gun legislation reform.
Fred Guttenberg, whose 14-year-old daughter Jaime was murdered in the Parkland mass shooting, responded to her message to Mr Hogg by asking her to put him in her schedule.
“I will also be coming to DC. I will bring pictures of my girl Jaime, who was murdered in Parkland,” he tweeted.
“If you are looking for people to put on your schedule, please put me. Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday? What day is best for you?”
As of Monday afternoon, the congresswoman was yet to publicly respond to Mr Guttenberg’s message.
