Dear John,

Yesterday, Trump’s visits to El Paso and Dayton brought him face-to-face with protestors — common people who want common-sense gun reform rather than another round of thoughts and prayers. This latest mass shooting saw the deaths of 31 people by two murderers, one of whom adhered to white supremacist ideology and intentionally targeted El Paso’s Latinx population.

The El Paso shooter used the same language as Trump in his manifesto, referring to migrants from Latin America as “invaders” coming to replace him and other white people. We don’t expect any change to come from Trump, but even under the Obama administration, after the horrific Sandy Hook elementary school massacre took place, no substantial legislation was passed to stop gun violence.

We need to make sure the next US president can do better. Send a message now to the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates telling them to attend the March for our Lives Forum on Gun Violence in Las Vegas. We want to know exactly what they would do as president to finally end this uniquely American problem.

US politicians, even Democrats, have been ineffective in stopping the epidemic of US mass shootings, and the current occupant of the White House is making the problem worse by calling Nazis “very fine people” and smiling when his supporters yell “shoot them” about migrants. But there is positive change taking place, and it’s coming from the youth.

The students of Parkland High have experienced the horrors of gun violence up close and personal, and they have gone forward from being victims of gun violence to using the tragedy to mobilize millions to take to the streets and the ballot boxes. On October 2, they are partnering with The Giffords Group — formed by former U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords after she was shot in the head in a 2011 mass shooting — to host a forum for Democratic presidential candidates to talk about gun violence and what they would do as president to stop it. As an organization that advocates every day to stop military-grade weapons from being used anywhere in the world, we are all in!

Send a message now to the 2020 Democratic candidates, asking them to attend the October 2 March for our Lives Forum on Gun Violence in Last Vegas.

Perpetrators of mass shootings — the majority of whom are white men, many of which adhere to white supremacist ideology — often come out of JROTC programs where high school students receive military trainings and get to use military-grade weapons. A full 35% of the domestic terrorists who carried out mass shootings previously had military training — the perpetrator of the Parkland massacre learned how to shoot in his 9th-grade JROTC program. The struggle to end domestic gun violence is inexorably linked to the anti-war movement and its time we finally connect the dots and do something about US mass shootings. Take action now!

Towards a safe and peaceful world,
Ann, Ariel, Caroline, Carley, Clara, Jodie, Maya, Mark, Medea, Megan, Nancy, Paki, Ryan, Rose, Sarah, Teri, Tighe, Umama, Ursula, and Zena