A ‘die-in’ to be held in commemoration of the Pulse nightclub shootings will take place on June 12 in Washington DC. Despite slow traction on social networks, organisers hope the event will attract up to 100,00 people.

The die-in is scheduled to last for 12 minutes — 720 seconds to represent the approximately 720 victims who’ve died in mass shootings since the massacre. 49 people were killed in the Orlando nightclub. It was up to that time, the worst gun related atrocity in US history, but was superseded less than a year later by the Las Vegas shootings, which claimed 58 lives. Both atrocities involved the use of semi-automatic weapons.

Organisers have reached out to Parkland survivors for their assistance. Amanda Fugleberg, one of the founders of the event, spoke of the impact of the shootings, “It was the first news I saw when I woke up that day and I remember the death toll just rising. It brought me to tears to know something like that happened so close.”

The organisers have been in contact with Brandon Wolf, a survivor of the Pulse massacre who is now himself a gun control activist and who has organised a separate protest. They believe linking the events with bring greater attention to both causes.

A GoFundMe account was set up last week with the aim of raising $15,000 to fund the event, which will be preceded by a rally for gun reform. The oragnisers describe the event as “the next step of action because politicians have been silent and we will finally hold them accountable. These die-in’s will show legislators the youth will not stand back and let them allow us to be murdered for the sake of money.”

Gun violence and the attempts to prevent it have become front and centre issues ahead of the upcoming midterm elections. 42% of all civilian owned guns worldwide are within in the United States, despite their being less than 5% of the global population. Last year over 11,000 people died of a gun related homicide in the US.