Las Vegas, Nevada – Former NRA President David Keene and author and gun rights activist John Lott each delivered a high-school graduation speech to a field of empty chairs symbolizing students killed by gun violence.

The gut-wrenching videos depict the two gun rights advocates speaking at a microphone on a stage. The 3,044 empty white chairs before them represent the American children who have fallen victim to gun violence and will not be able to graduate with their classmates in 2021, The Hill reported.

Both speakers were under the impression they were giving the commencement address for James Madison High School outside Las Vegas, unaware the school was completely made up. They believed they were doing a rehearsal for the graduation ceremony, which they were later told was canceled.

"Picture for a minute the young James Madison, for whom this school is named," Keene says in his speech. "This year, you focused on one of the most important of Madison’s amendments, the Second Amendment. There are some who continue to fight to gut the Second Amendment, but I’d be willing to bet that many of you will be among those who stand up and prevent them from succeeding."

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He concluded by saying, "So my advice to you is simple enough: follow your dream, and make it a reality. And never for a minute doubt that you can achieve that dream."

The second speaker, John Lott, is the author of More Guns, Less Crime, an influential book claiming that violent crime rates go down when concealed carry laws are passed.

Lott also invoked James Madison in his speech, saying, "Your school is named after James Madison, and he proposed what became the Second Amendment to the Constitution, that there’s an individual right for people to be able to keep guns for protection."

"Gun control advocates and Democrats will fight you tooth and nail," Lott continued. "They want to go and say we’ve stopped 3.5 million dangerous people. I look at it as we’ve stopped 3.5 million law-abiding citizens who wanted to get a gun."

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The speeches in both videos were interposed with audio recordings taken during real school shootings.

The stunt was organized by Change the Ref, founded by the parents of a boy killed in the 2018 Parkland, Florida, school shooting.

When he found out about the prank, Lott said the organizers had encouraged them to speak on James Madison and background checks.