School shooting survivor David Hogg has decried Donald Trump Jr. for having “liked” a pair of tweets questioning his motives for wanting gun reform following last week’s massacre in Parkland, Florida.
The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School senior made the remark in a television interview Tuesday after President Trump’s eldest son liked two tweets earlier in the day touting conspiracy theories smearing the student.
“It’s unbelievable to me that people are saying this, and the fact that Donald Trump Jr. liked that post is disgusting to me, but it’s also false, in terms of the sense that — these people keep saying that I’m anti-Second Amendment. I’m not,” the student told CNN.
“I want every American to be able to own a gun that has a mentally stable mind, a person that has a credible background, that doesn’t have any previous major convictions, and somebody that’s not gonna go out and commit these atrocities, ’cause those are the people that are at fault here,” he added. “I do not want to take away the Constitutional rights of American citizens.”
Both tweets liked by Mr. Trump Jr., 40, linked to articles published on far-right blogs Monday after Stoneman Douglas students started publicly pleading for gun reform in the wake of last week’s rampage.
“Could it be that this student is running cover for his dad who Works as an FBI agent at the Miami field office Which botched tracking down the Man behind the Valentine day massacre? Just wondering. Just connecting some dots,” conservative talk show host Graham Ledger wrote in one of the tweets liked by the younger Trump.
“Outspoken Trump-Hating School Shooting Survivor is Son of FBI Agent; MSM Helps Prop Up Incompetent Bureau,” reads the other tweet.
The president’s son did not immediately comment publicly on the student’s response.
Seventeen people were killed and 14 injured after a gunman opened fire inside the school Feb. 14. Former Stoneman Douglas student Nikolas Cruz, who was charged in the shooting, used a legally acquired semi-automatic rifle, according to police, rekindling calls for gun control in Florida and beyond.
The FBI subsequently acknowledged ignoring a tip involving Mr. Cruz, 19, drawing ire from the president himself over the weekend.
“Very sad that the FBI missed all of the many signals sent out by the Florida school shooter. This is not acceptable,” Mr. Trump tweeted Saturday. “They are spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion with the Trump campaign – there is no confusion. Get back to the basics and make us all proud!”
David called the president’s remarks “disgusting.”
“My father’s a retired FBI agent and the FBI are some of the hardest-working individuals I have ever seen in my life,” he told CNN. “It’s wrong that the president is blaming them for this.”
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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