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 James and me to follow them upstairs.

I silently cried as I climbed the stairs, because 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 at Sandy Hook Elementary.

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

But as I saw more and more families shattered by gun violence, I forced myself to get involved. I didn’t care about the pain it would cause me. I felt like if I didn’t do something, more people were going to die.

Now, with a new Congress, we finally have a real chance – our best chance since my brother was murdered eight years ago – to expand background checks to protect more kids like Daniel from gun violence. That’s why I’m helping Sandy Hook Promise lead an all-out push to pass bipartisan universal background checks legislation as soon as possible, but we’re still short of the $125,000 we need to raise by midnight on Tuesday to fund our efforts. So please, can I count on you to give right now?

Please rush $10, or as much as you can, right now to help Sandy Hook Promise push the new Congress to finally pass universal background checks and protect more children from gun violence. Every minute we wait, more kids’ lives are in danger, so we need to act fast.

I used to leave the gun violence prevention work to my dad, Mark. But I know what having a loved one taken by gun violence feels like, and I want to prevent other people’s lives from being torn apart in that same way.

Thank you for your support today – together, we won’t back down. Together, I know we’ll build a safer world for all kids.

Natalie Barden (Daniel’s sister)