What Gun Violence Awareness Really Looks Like
Yesterday was Gun Violence Awareness Day and the 12th year of the Wear Orange movement. It was the start of a month dedicated to remembering the millions of Americans touched every year by gun violence.
The day traces back to a group of Chicago teenagers who lost their 15-year-old friend, Hadiya Pendleton, to a stray bullet just days after she performed at President Obama’s second inauguration in 2013. They asked their classmates to wear orange in her honor, choosing the color because hunters wear it to signal “don’t shoot.” That act of grief became a national movement. Yesterday would have been Hadiya’s 29th birthday.
At 97Percent, we believe gun violence awareness must include every American, both non-gun owners and gun owners alike. Because we know that gun owners too often get written out of the conversation—when they are, in fact, a big part of the solution. The will is there. What’s been missing is the political courage to act and the bridge-builders willing to show that reducing gun deaths isn’t a partisan cause. It’s a human one.
So this month, wear your orange if you’ve got it. But more than that: please share this newsletter with a gun owner you know. Push back on the narrative that nothing can change. It can change. Victims like Hadiya Pendleton and the grieving loved ones they leave behind deserve more than a day of acknowledgement or a moment of silence. They deserve progress.