A man, Brandon Fleury, has recently been sentenced to 66 months in prison. His crime: posing as the Parkland, Florida school shooter on social media and threatening the family members of the victims through direct messaging (DM) and Instagram posts. The shooting, which occurred on February 14th, 2018, saw 17 innocent people lose their lives and sparked fierce debates about stricter gun regulations. Brandon Fleury, age 22, was convicted of sending DMs to Jesse Guttenberg, the brother of victim Jamie Guttenberg, with messages like "I stole your sister's future, with the power of my AR-15”. Fleury claimed he only was trying to "troll" the survivors, and that his messages were meant to be seen as taunts, not threats toward those who are grieving. He claims his actions were to fight those who push for stricter gun laws, and intimidate the families to back off the fight. Since the shooting, the Guttenberg family, as well as many others, have been at the front of the March For Our Lives movement, pushing for more gun control.
During the trial, Brandon Fleury tried to claim that he was within his right to speak freely and that he is "entitled to special protection under the First Amendment". His lawyer claimed "He never thought what he did was illegal. He believed he was just being a troll, which is what so many people do on the internet. He never intended to scare anybody, so for him, this is obviously a nightmare". But during the police investigation, alarming discoveries were made about Fleury. Federal agents seized his tablet, which contained thousands of pictures of infamous serial killers, including Columbine shooters Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, as well as Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer. Fleury had access to thirteen different Instagram accounts, including the handles @the.douglas.shooter, @nikolas.killed.your.sister, and @nikolas.the.murderer. Fleury, initially charged with two counts of cyberstalking and one count of threatening to kidnap, was sentenced to more than five years in a minimum-security prison.
I agree with U.S. District Judge Rodolfo Ruiz's decision to sentence Fleury to prison. The actions of this man should not be allowed. If Fleury wanted to show support for the Second Amendment, he could have achieved that goal in numerous other effective, non-threatening, and public ways. If he disagreed with the victim's family's stance on gun control, he should have advocated his opinion civilly, perhaps by supporting the National Rifle Association, or spirited but polite debates on social media. Instead, he elected to twist the knife of grief that these families surely still feel, as well as threaten them physically. The way he handled this situation was wrong, and frankly, in my opinion, it delegitimizes his stance on the issue because of the evil methods he chose. As a person who advocates for stricter regulations on gun ownership, I am more than willing to listen to other opinions. I realize I may have a limited scope on the issue, and I am all for expanding this perspective by hearing the opinions of others. This is where the First Amendment is at its strongest; when people can express the experiences they have had, and expand society's understanding of complicated topics, such as gun control. It loses its legitimacy, however, when individuals like Brandon Fleury claim they are allowed to emotionally torment victims under the guise of "free speech". Judge Rodolfo Ruiz did his part in helping to solidify what the First Amendment should stand for this week, and I am grateful for his ruling.
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