As we all continue our struggle to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s important to keep in mind another public health crisis that continues to take American lives every single day: gun violence.
The Wear Orange campaign was created in 2015 to bring attention to the critical issue of gun violence across our country and the need to make our communities safer for our families and ourselves.
National Gun Violence Awareness Day is June 4. The movement grew after the death of 15-year old Hadiya Pendleton, who was shot and killed in Chicago just one week after performing at President Barack Obama’s second inaugural parade in 2013.
Why orange? It’s the safety color hunters wear to tell others, “I’m a human, not a target.”
After Hadiya’s death, the Wear Orange initiative grew exponentially into what it is today: an annual time for everyone to stand up, speak out, raise awareness about gun violence, and honor the more than 30,000 lives cut short and hundreds of thousands more wounded by gun violence every year in the U.S.
Your voice as a citizen is powerful. Please be sure to let your state and federal legislators know that you want to see common sense gun violence legislation passed. H.R.8 – Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2021 has passed the House. We need to let our senators in Washington know that the Senate needs to pass this lifesaving legislation now.
Let’s all work together towards realizing a future free from gun violence. Are you with us?
Laura Coyne
Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America
Hillsborough