Brett Kavanaugh apparently wouldn't shake hands with a Parkland shooting victim's dad

As protesters raged and senators sparred over Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing, one man in the audience opted for a silent statement instead.

Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter Jaime Guttenberg was killed in the February shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, spent much of Kavanaugh's Tuesday hearing standing in the back of the audience to protest the nominee's presumed stance on gun control. And when he approached Kavanaugh and said who he was, Guttenberg says the nominee turned away.

Guttenberg's 14-year-old daughter Jaime was among the 17 people killed in the Parkland, Florida, school shooting earlier this year. He's since become a Capitol Hill mainstay, notoriously refusing to sit down at hearings to protest for gun control. Guttenberg resumed his stance Tuesday at Kavanaugh's hearing, using a moment before a lunch break to try to shake the judge's hand.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

In a tweet, Guttenberg described how he introduced himself to the nominee as "Jaime Guttenberg's dad." Kavanaugh "pulled his hand back, turned his back to me, and walked away," Guttenberg wrote, adding he thought the move suggested Kavanaugh "did not want to deal with the reality of gun violence."