John,

On Dec. 14, 2012, I was sitting in my fifth-grade science class when my school went under lockdown. When I came home, my parents told my older brother and me to follow them upstairs.

I silently cried as I climbed the stairs. I had heard about what happened at Sandy Hook Elementary that day, and after seeing the look on my parents' faces, I knew what was coming. I still remember screaming as they told us that our little brother, Daniel, had been murdered in his first-grade classroom.

After that day, I never wanted to think about gun violence again. I didn't want to be constantly reminded about Daniel's death.

A couple years ago, after seeing more and more families shattered by gun violence, I made the difficult decision to start speaking out and joined a gun violence prevention club. When Parkland happened, at first I didn't even want to think about it. But I forced myself to get even more involved. I felt like if I didn't, then more people were going to die.

Now, 31 people were murdered in two separate mass shootings only 13 hours apart – yet the Senate is still on vacation. We need to pressure Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to call senators back to Washington to vote on universal background check legislation, so I'm helping Sandy Hook Promise lead an all-out push to pass this lifesaving bill.

But we still need to raise $68,612 more by midnight tomorrow to ramp up our efforts. So please, can I count on you to give right now to help prevent future tragedies and protect children like my little brother from gun violence?

Please rush $10, or as much as you can, right now to help Sandy Hook Promise push for universal background checks to prevent future tragedies. We cannot allow our leaders to sit back as people are slaughtered on a daily basis.

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Doing this work still makes me feel so physically drained from the emotional toll it takes on me. But by standing together with my peers and people like you who care so much about preventing gun violence, I can see how strong we are.

Thank you for your support today – for not backing down, even when our elected leaders refuse to step up. Together, I know we can build a safer world for all of us.

Natalie Barden (Daniel's sister)



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Sandy Hook Promise Action Fund
PO Box 3489, Newtown, CT 06470, United States

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