The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) has witnessed a 1,200% surge in 18-year-old to 20-year-old members in the weeks since the firearm-based attack on Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

The surge for that age group is unprecedented for SAF and is the result of grassroots interest in gun rights.

In a March 12 press release SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb welcomed the influx of younger members and donors. He observed, “It’s important to note, that this interest surge has been organic on the Internet. SAF did nothing special to make it happen. They have really done this on their own, finding us on the Internet and following up.”

He also noted:

We normally don’t get that many members or donors in that age group, since the gun rights movement typically trends toward older Americans. But the 18- to 20-year-olds have never been specifically targeted before, and they are obviously alarmed. This influx of young Americans into the gun rights movement is important, not just to respond to the current gun control threat, but as the movement has gotten older, it is encouraging to see so many young adults getting involved in support of Second Amendment rights.

Gottlieb pointed out that the surge in 18-to-20-year old members is an encouraging sign amid the establishment media’s focus on high school students marching for more gun laws. He said, “While the media has paraded high school students to push a gun control agenda, the age group that is now being targeted by that effort is energizing, and showing that there is another side to this controversy.”

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets with AWR Hawkins, and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.