In the days that followed the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., Salli Garrigan watched, riveted, in her living room while the students stood before the television cameras, sharing their anger and frustration as they demanded stricter gun laws.

Garrigan compared their boldness to her memories of the days after the shooting rampage during her junior year at Columbine High, which she had escaped by crawling across the auditorium floor and running for the door.
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Survivors of mass shootings have increased in number over the past generation along with the pace of mass tragedy. A Washington Post analysis of shootings at schools alone has found more than 150,000 students at more than 170 campuses have experienced a shooting since Columbine.

Many past survivors are stepping into the political fray for the first time. Others are turning up the volume on earlier actions.

They are helping to fuel the growth of groups like Moms Demand Action, a grass roots gun control advocacy group founded in the days after the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary shooting in Newtown, Conn., which left 20 children and six teachers dead.

Since Parkland, more than 140,000 new people have participated in at least one event or say they plan to. About 1.7 million new people have signed up with Moms Demand Action or its umbrella group, Everytown for Gun Safety, to receive emails or text messages or to make a donation. - WashPost