Mika Chokes Up as Parkland Father Makes Heart-Wrenching Gun Control Plea: ‘My Family’s Life is Worth It and So is Yours’

Fred Guttenberg, the father of 14-year-old Parkland shooting victim, Jaime Guttenberg, offered an emotional Valentine’s Day message on the two-year anniversary of the shooting that forever changed his life, in an interview with Mika Brzezinski on Morning Joe, Friday.

“Today is a day that many people are going to celebrate love. My advice to everybody today is don’t make today a special day about celebrating love,” he told Brzezinski, who was clearly moved by his message. “Do it every chance you get, tell those who you love how much you love them, look them in the eye as if it could be the very last time, and then promise me you’re going to show up at the polls and vote for Jaime and all the other victims of gun violence.”

Guttenberg caused a stir at the State of the Union speech when he yelled “What about my daughter?” to President Donald Trump and was escorted out. Brzezinski gave Guttenberg an opportunity to share memories of his daughter, and he shared the heartbreaking reality of how tragedy colors his memories now.

“While there’s memories of Jaime in life, there’s also Jaime’s last minute. Jaime’s laughter, Jaime’s silliness, Jaime’s toughness, Jaime’s smile. It’s in my head. It never leaves there. But it’s also been joined by Jaime’s last minute. I can’t get out of my head thinking about what my daughter felt in that last minute knowing she was running for her life from an active shooter and wondering, did she know it when she was shot? Did she suffer even for a second? And because I don’t know what my daughter felt, I will never stop fighting to keep someone else from having that pain in their heart that I have today.”

In his last minute, Guttenberg exhorted viewers to imagine what it would like to only have their loved ones in their memories, to vote and had an excoriating message for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

“Fire Mitch McConnell from this Senate because he refuses to pass the legislation that is already sitting there waiting to go to the president for a signature, and he won’t let it happen, he has chosen to stand idly by. And so join me as we work to defeat him because my family’s life is worth it and so is yours,” he concluded.

Watch the video above, via MSNBC.