John, Valentine’s Day should be a day of love and laughter, but on February 14, 2018, it was the opposite for me and my students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Today marks four years since a former student ambushed our building with an AR-15.

For six minutes of sheer terror, I heard bullets whizzing past me as I sat crouched on the floor surrounded by my kids. They asked me, "Are we going to die today?" I said no — but the truth is, I didn't know what would happen. I didn't know that two of my students would be murdered: sweet Helena and our amazing athlete, Nick.  

All the rest of us could do that day was lay low, stay quiet, and hope the shooter didn't come back our way. But that's not the case anymore. Today, laying low is not an option.

The day of the Parkland shooting, I was teaching a class on the history of the Holocaust and we focused on learning about how to combat hate. And what my students and I learned over and over again is that once you hear the story of someone who has witnessed an atrocity, you become a witness too, and you have a responsibility to act. I'm asking, now that you've heard my story, if you'll join me in action today.

Brady is leading the charge to ban the kind of assault weapons that were used to kill my students four years ago, and to fight back against the cowardly politicians who would rather do the NRA's dirty work than protect communities like mine. But Brady needs us to fight alongside them. Today, Brady is only a few thousand names away from collecting 5,000 signatures calling on Congress to ban assault weapons — but their deadline is midnight tonight. We cannot fall short, not with lives at stake, so please:

Will you add your name right now, before the midnight deadline, to demand that Congress ban assault weapons and take real action to save lives from gun violence?

Thank you for being an active witness and refusing to let hate go unanswered.

Ivy Schamis
Brady supporter