WASHINGTON — A political action committee launched by parents of Parkland students is scaling back its 2018 midterm plans in the wake of disappointing fund raising totals.
The group, Families vs. Assault Rifles, was launched in May by Jeffrey Kasky and Sergio Rozenblat, the parents of students who survived the February 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
The pair worked with Matt Gohd, the group's California-based executive director, who said he was inspired by the shooting to become more involved politically.
"I have a teenage daughter, I wanted to feel like I had done everything I could to make sure this didn't happen again," Gohd said.
At its launch, Gohd, a long-time Democratic donor who has worked at numerous investment firms, told the Miami Herald it had an ambitious goal: to raise $10 million and act as a counterweight to the National Rifle Association, one of the most powerful and successful politcal activist groups in the country. It planned to target politicians who opposed gun safety regulations. So far, it's only raised $230,000 – much of which came soon after the group was first launched. From July through the end of September, the group took in less than $30,000 and had only $13,000 left in the bank..
"None of us had a grasp of how difficult this would be," Gohd said. "We needed more resources, more people."
