Rep. Brandon Guffey: My Life’s Mission Will Be Forever to Protect Children Online

By Maya Mukherjee

Brandon Guffey had just won his primary for a seat in the South Carolina statehouse in 2022 when his life changed in a way he never could have prepared for. His son Gavin, 17, was targeted online by someone who solicited explicit images from him, then threatened to send them to everyone he knew. Less than two hours later, Gavin died by suicide. In the months that followed, four other teenagers caught in the same trap took their own lives.

Grief nearly took the campaign from him too. He wanted to drop out of the general election, he later wrote, because he “didn’t have the fight in me.” What kept him in the race was the thought of the next family, and a fury he had nowhere else to put.

“My wife said, ‘You’re one of few people that can actually make a difference. Get in there, and find a way to stop this from happening to the next one,'” said Guffey during a panel about online youth safety at Future Summit 2026. “Regardless of politics, my life’s mission will be forever to protect children online.”

The threats did not stop when Gavin died. For roughly a month afterward, Guffey wrote, the same criminals went after Gavin’s 14-year-old cousin, then his 16-year-old brother, then Guffey himself once they learned he was running for office. He waited until November 2022 to tell the story publicly, fearing he would interfere with the investigation.

As soon as he took office, Guffey introduced Gavin’s Law (H3583), which would make sextortion — the act of blackmailing someone using sexually explicit images or videos — a felony in the state. But even though Guffey belongs to the Republican supermajority in the South Carolina legislature, his bill stalled in the House. 

The eventual passage of Gavin’s Law required Guffey to collaborate with an unlikely partner: Democratic Minority Leader Rep. Todd Rutherford, who Guffey described as the person he clashed with the most in the legislature. Guffey confronted him about why Gavin’s Law was not moving forward.

“I went to him and said, ‘Look, you’re the only one with the balls to tell me what’s wrong with my bill. Will you help?'” Guffey explained.

Rutherford told Guffey to revise the bill to include a provision mandating schools across South Carolina to teach students about sextortion. Once they had collaborated to add the education provision, the bill passed the House. The governor signed it into law in May 2023.

“I think it is one of the most important parts,” Guffey admitted about the new addition. “And it came from somebody I felt was as far as possible from me, politically.”

Sextortion is a rapidly growing issue facing young people on the internet, and it has dangerous consequences. Guffey cited a survey of 1,200 teens by Thorn that found that one in five had experienced sextortion, and one in seven victims were driven to harm themselves as a result.

Guffey takes care to emphasize that there was nothing unusual about his son’s case. Gavin was not targeted for his name or his family’s standing, Guffey wrote in the column, but simply because he was a teenager who, like most teenagers, liked attention. The message from Guffey to teens is blunt: “No shame is worth losing your life over.”

After the South Carolina bill passed, Guffey continued his mission to protect children online by sharing his story with lawmakers from other states, the U.S. Congress, and social media companies. He has met with Meta, and he does not soften his assessment of the industry, calling the platforms “the equivalent to the cigarette lobby of our generation.” Several other states have enacted legislation similar to Gavin’s Law, often named after teens who have lost their lives due to experiencing sextortion, such as Braden’s Law in Ohio and Bradyn’s Law in Wisconsin. He has also founded a nonprofit, <3 Foundation, and wrote the forthcoming book Tomorrow Needs You: A Father’s Journey Turning Pain into Purpose.

According to Project Liberty president Tomicah Tillemann, who also spoke on the panel, there is a broad consensus around the importance of ensuring online safety for children and teens.

“This is a massively powerful and potent political issue, and it is as intensely bipartisan as anything we’ve ever polled on,” Tillemann noted. “And we’ve polled on a lot of issues, so it doesn’t matter where you fall on the political spectrum.”

Beyond addressing sextortion, many states are passing laws to ensure children’s safety online in other ways. For instance, lawmakers across the country have introduced measures to regulate AI usage in mental health contexts. 

Another panelist, Rep. Christine Cockley, D-Ohio, was inspired to take action by learning the story of Adam Raine, a 16-year-old who died by suicide after allegedly being advised by ChatGPT. She introduced a bill that would require AI developers to use mental health frameworks when building their models.

Cockley faced an uphill battle to pass her bill because she belongs to the Democratic superminority in the Ohio legislature. Like Guffey, she found success by reaching across the aisle and collaborating with a colleague of the opposite party.

The nationwide efforts to introduce online guardrails represent a deeply bipartisan commitment to protecting children and teens. Guffey has been careful to say the law that carries his son’s name was never his alone. It came, he wrote, from people who came together and showed “what can be accomplished when we work together for a common cause without letting politics get in the way.”

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is free, confidential, and available 24/7. Call or text 988, or chat online at 988lifeline.org.

Young people being threatened with explicit images can report to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at CyberTipline.org or 1-800-843-5678. NCMEC’s Take It Down service (takeitdown.ncmec.org) can help minors get images removed from participating platforms.