Father of Florida school shooting victim speaks at Alexandria town hall meeting on gun safety

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - The Alexandria community gathered for a town hall on gun violence and school safety Wednesday night.

Fred Guttenberg, the father of one of the Parkland, Florida shooting victims spoke to the crowd of about 1,300 people at T.C. Williams High School.

"I can't remember if I told my daughter I loved her when she left for school that day," recalled Guttenberg.

He has been pushing for change since his 14-year-old daughter Jaime lost her life to a bullet.

"She fought for her life until the very last second," Guttenberg explained. "Running down the hall from an active shooter until 'boom' - a single shot to her back severed her spinal cord."

Guttenberg talked about a number of changes he would like to see implemented, including an end to assault rifle sales. Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., also wants to see the background check loophole closed. Right now, people who purchase firearms at gun shows do not have to pass a background check.

The congressman also supports bumping the legal purchasing age to 21.

"There is so much evidence now that young people make bad decisions," Beyer explained. "I can tell you all the bad decisions I made as a young person. Our brains are not fully formed yet. We get wiser and more sensible as we age. So let's not give an erratic 18- or 19-year-old the chance to buy a dangerous weapon."

Beyer also said he is for adding more armed officers in schools as an immediate measure that can be implemented in the wake of more school threats.

Since Feb. 14, schools across the nation report a surge in online, anonymous threats. The Educator's School Safety Network reports there are 70 to 80 threats a day. Prior to Parkland, the average was between 10 and 20.

Fairfax County police have investigated 28 total threats since last August. Of all the threats recorded, 24 of them have been in the last three weeks.

No matter how minor, each threat has to be thoroughly investigated.

"We have an entire detective bureau that works on that and there are some difficulties," explained Brian Ruck with Fairfax County Police Department. "Obviously in cyberspace, things are difficult to track, but we have folks that are able to do that and when we track them down, we will file charges if in fact the threat was real."

Detectives told FOX 5 they have a law enforcement portal allowing them to work directly with social media giants like Facebook and Twitter to track down anyone making threats.

Charges offenders could face include disorderly conduct, threat of mass violence, and threat of arson/destructive devices. Fairfax County police are even considering seeking restitution from offenders.