‘This Video Will Change You’: Urgent Plea For Gun Sanity Has People In Tears
A powerful new video is urging Americans to demand action on gun control amid a wave of mass shootings in American schools.
Eleven Films, the Oregon-based production company that made the video, listed the title on YouTube as “WARNING: This video will change you.” It shows the aftermath of school shootings going back more than two decades, along with gut-wrenching comments from anguished parents as well as presidents, athletes, entertainers and media figures.
“This is not a movie,” the text on the screen notes. “This is real life.”
Other text in the video also notes that guns are the leading cause of death among American children, surpassing auto crashes, drugs and cancer.
“No more thoughts and prayers,” the text says toward the end. “Only action will save our kids. Only real gun reform will restore America’s future.”
The video, set to the instrumental track “Awaken Dawn,” was viewed on Twitter nearly 750,000 times in its first 12 hours:
Users on social media said they were in tears over the video and took up the call for action:
We have to make it harder to be a gun owner and easier to be a child in America. #AwakenDawnpic.twitter.com/hjNzTffsBK
— Randi Mayem Singer (@rmayemsinger) June 1, 2022
#AwakenDawn
I'm crying, I'm so done with children dying, I am so done with the NRA having such clout with our Congress. It has to end. https://t.co/G8HPjv1G0g— Lisa wright (@Lisawri18498397) June 1, 2022
Please watch this...no matter how difficult it is. Then share. And take your anger & grief to the voting booth.
I'm a lifetime gun user & own several firearms. I live in an ammunition/firearm manufacturing community. These shootings need to stop - it's time for real changes. https://t.co/6PW2TINIKl— Mia Carlson (@MiaCarlsonWA) June 2, 2022
Please watch this.
Cry.
And then get mad as hell.
No more moments of silence. #RelentlessNoisepic.twitter.com/tghb2jIoQH— Ken Olin (@kenolin1) June 1, 2022
This made my eyes considerably wet. Enough is enough.
pic.twitter.com/3KFldnSHPo— devon sawa (@DevonESawa) June 1, 2022
.@Eleven_Films has created some of the best digital content I've seen over the years, but #AwakenDawn is the MOST heartbreaking. You NEED to watch this!💔💔 https://t.co/4s40KjqqTE
— Peter Morley (@morethanmySLE) June 1, 2022
Literally 8 hours after @Eleven_Films released this video about the obscene amount of gun violence in America, there's been another mass shooting.
This time, at a Tulsa hospital.
WHEN ARE WE GOING TO DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT? #AwakenDawnpic.twitter.com/PHyPJBqYZj— Nick Knudsen 🇺🇸🇺🇦 (@NickKnudsenUS) June 1, 2022
Every single person needs to see this.
It’s been 8,444 days since Columbine.
It’s been 3,457 since Sandy Hook.
It’s been 1,569 since Parkland.
It’s been 9 days since Uvalde.
“All I did was send them to school.”
My friend @fred_guttenberg
It’s been long enough. #AwakenDawnhttps://t.co/eMCUu2zabG— Dr. Jaclyn Schildkraut (@jschildkraut80) June 2, 2022
I wish I had the power to make this trend every day on every social media outlet. Thank you @Eleven_Films for making it. I hope I start to see it on prime time TV during popular tv shows and during NFL games. I would donate to help make this happen. https://t.co/Sat0hs1mYn
— Vic Meyers (@Vic_Meyers) June 2, 2022
“All I did was send them to school.”
Thoughts and prayers are not enough.
Not even close to enough.
When are we going to DO something?
It’s time for action.
Not just more empty words.#AwakenDawnpic.twitter.com/3eRAv9xc9d— Jo 🌻 (@JoJoFromJerz) June 1, 2022
THIS! in 2022, more kids have been shot and killed in the US than police in the line of duty. https://t.co/2xdCdbFcCI
— Chip Franklin.com (@chipfranklin) June 1, 2022
If you love your gun more than you care about keeping children alive, you are just plain evil.
Don't look away.#AwakenDawn#GunReformNOWhttps://t.co/1zmll5tSKV— Tara Dublin 🇺🇦🌻 (@taradublinrocks) June 1, 2022
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.