I disagree with gun control activist Fred Guttenberg on pretty much everything to do with firearms. I can’t even chalk most of it up to him losing his daughter during Parkland since our own Ryan Petty did as well, and he’s not an anti-gun loon.

But Guttenberg is still a person, and while I might disagree with him on just about everything, there are lines that I feel should be respected.

Recently, a man was sentenced for violating those lines.

In April 2022, ahead of sentencing for the convicted shooter at his daughter’s school in Florida, Fred Guttenberg received a message from a stranger who said they planned to have “a party every night of this fantastic Parkland trial.”

“So glad to celebrate blood and death,” the message continued.

Between December 2021 and July 2022, Guttenberg — the father of Jaime Guttenberg, who was one of 17 people killed in the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School— received more than 200 messages from IP addresses associated with the same person, according to a federal complaint. The messages contained graphic descriptions of his daughter’s death and belittling remarks about Fred Guttenberg’s gun-control activism, federal prosecutors said.

On Friday, a judge sentenced James Catalano, a 62-year-old Fresno, Calif., man, to one year in prison for sending the “harrowing messages,” the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of Florida announced Monday. Catalano pleaded guilty to cyberstalking in March.

…

On July 20, 2022, law enforcement officers interviewed Catalano. He was shown some of the messages and told the officials that he had sent them.

Catalano also told them he believed Guttenberg was “using his dead daughter to push his political agenda,” which he “did not like,” according to the complaint. He was trying to put Guttenberg “in check” by sending the messages, the document adds.

Seriously, if you’re someone who would do this, please stop helping the Second Amendment community.

I take issue with Guttenberg and yes, I do happen to believe he’s using his status as someone who lost their child to push an anti-gun agenda, but that’s absolutely no excuse for some of what’s alleged here.

Graphic descriptions of his daughter’s death? Dude, that’s just out of line.

There’s nothing about this that isn’t disgusting. I may not care for Guttenberg in the least based on his public persona, but that’s no excuse for this.

Further, it’s also not like it will change anything.

Guttenberg didn’t exactly walk away from the gun control movement, now did he? If anything, it solidified his perception of gun people as the bad guys, so well done there, dipstick.

Look, I’m going to come right out and say that you shouldn’t do this. I shouldn’t have to because common sense and decency should tell you not to, but at least one idiot thought this was a viable way to approach Guttenberg, so I can’t assume no one else will do this.

First, you shouldn’t do it because it’s vile.

Second, it’s not like it would work. All it does is paint everyone else in a bad light and allow the target to feel righteous.

Seriously, if you’re someone like this, stop helping. The nasty messages I’ve gotten over the years didn’t make me change my opinion and yours aren’t going to change an anti-gunner’s.