Students Demand Action hosts Week of Action for gun violence prevention and voter registration

The Students Demand Action chapter at Lehigh held a ‘Week of Action’ this past week, consisting of three events promoting voter turnout for Gun Sense Candidates.

Lehigh SDA engaged more than 330 voters during the week as part of a broader national organization focused on gun violence prevention. Death by firearms is currently the leading cause of death among young people and teens in the U.S., according to Everytown for Gun Safety. 

The three events in three days consisted of voter outreach and collaborations with other campus organizations. 

On Sept. 15 members and volunteers called Pennsylvania voters about voting in the upcoming election. They also made friendship bracelets and focused on community outreach.

Sept. 16 was the SDA Hot Girls Walk (and Vote) event in collaboration with Women’s Strength Society, where students could register to vote or make a plan to do so. 

Sept. 17 was “Sip & Call,” a phonebanking event in collaboration with Coffee Club.

Phonebanking is where members get a script and a database of phone numbers of Pennsylvania residents to talk to them about the election and encouraging them to vote for a Gun Sense Candidate, according to Annika Lilja, ‘29, Students Demand Action vice president.

“This week, I hope we (got) our voice out there that it’s more important than ever that we are going to be electing a gun safe candidate for the House of Representatives,” Sammy Petras, ‘29, Student Demand Action’s election point person, said.

Petras said phonebanking is one of the better ways to reach out to people because it’s harder to ignore a phone call. The voters they called were based in Scranton. 

Lilja said Lehigh’s chapter has been making calls on behalf of Paige Cognetti, a Moms Demand Action volunteer out of PA-08 in the Scranton area. However, she said they are really aiming to support any candidate that has been approved by Everytown for Gun Safety.

“It’s really rewarding to hear people answer you back and understand why you’re fighting so hard for an issue,” Petras said.

Lilja is part of a bigger movement associated with Everytown for Gun Safety.

The Lehigh chapter was founded in January 2026 by Natalie Brenner, ‘29, group lead and campus organizer. 

“I joined because that’s a topic that is very important to me,” Petras said. “I’m a firm believer that guns should be regulated. There’s been so much harm that’s been done because of guns.”

The Lehigh chapter’s goal is to organize action on campus around gun violence prevention. 

Lilja said with the midterms coming up, the chapter is focusing on increasing voter turnout for gun sense candidates.

Lilja said the week of action is strategically placed around the time of National Voter Registration Day, which was on Sept. 15.

After midterms, once candidates are elected, Lehigh’s chapter plans to educate members on relevant gun violence prevention in Pennsylvania.

“As a whole, we are looking not necessarily to ban guns, but just to ensure that they are being used in a safe way, so that schools, and especially their students can feel safe,” Lilja said.

Lilja said the Lehigh chapter conducts community outreach, in a few different forms. One is door-to-door knocking to raise awareness about the upcoming election. 

“It’s a really good way for us to actually make a difference with what we can do, because as students we don’t have that much power,” Zeenat Bajwa, ‘29, campus ambassador for Lehigh Students Demand Action, said.

“You don’t really need to know much to know that we don’t want gun violence in schools, and we want stricter regulations,” Bajwa said. “I would recommend that people join because it makes you feel a little bit more in control over what’s happening (in the country).”