My name is Sam Zeif. I'm a student from Marjory Stoneman Douglas, Parkland.
I lost a best friend. He was practically a brother. And I'm here to use my voice,
because I know he can't. And I know he's with me, cheering me on, to be strong, but it's
hard. And to feel like this? It doesn't even feel like a week. Time has stood still. To
feel like this, ever? I can't feel comfortable in my country, knowing that people have, will
have, or are ever going to feel like this.
And I want to feel safe at school. You know, senior year and junior year, they were big
years for me, when I turned my academics around, started connecting with teachers, and I started
actually enjoying school.
And now, I don't know how I'm ever going to set foot in that place again. Or go to a public
park after school. Or go walking anywhere. Me and my friends, we get scared when a car
drives by. Anywhere.
I don't understand. I turned 18 the day after. Woke up to the news that my best friend was
gone. And I don't understand why I can still go in a store, and buy a weapon of war. An
AR. I was reading today that a person, 20 years old, walked into a store and bought
an AR-15 in five minutes, with an expired ID. How is it that easy to buy this type of
weapon? How did we not stop this after Columbine, after Sandy Hook? I'm sitting with a mother
that lost her son. It's still happening.
In Australia, there was a shooting at a school in 1999. And you know, after that, they took
a lot of ideas, they put legislation together, and they stopped it. Can anyone here guess
how many shootings there have been in the schools since then in Australia? Zero. We
need to do something. And that's why we're here. So let's be strong, for the fallen who
don't have a voice to speak anymore, and let's never let this happen again. Please. Please.
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Thank you. I fully respect all of our amendments, including the Second. But in Maryland, they
have proven that the Second Amendment does not protect these types of weapons. They have
banned over 45 different kinds of assault weapons, including the AR. Including the AR.
They have limited magazines sizes. They have proven that it's not like we have to lose
our Second Amendment. You know, the Second Amendment, I believe, was for defense. And
I fully respect that, like I said. But these are not weapons of defense. These are weapons
of war. And I just, I still can't fathom that I, myself, am able to purchase one.