Wear Orange Event Honors Gun Violence Victims

DULUTH, Minn. — The first Friday of June is National Gun Violence Awareness day and also kicks off Wear Orange Weekend.

Friday evening local organizations and members of the community gathered in Canal Park to bring awareness to gun violence.

Dawning orange shirts, the group advocated for gun safety and prevention against gun violence.

“It’s something that’s going to take all of us to work together to have that culture change,” said Sarah Miksell a volunteer with Moms Demand Action. “Orange symbolizes the importance of each person’s life, we are wearing orange to honor those who are killed, injured, otherwise impacted by gun violence and to call for an end to this crisis.”

Wear Orange Weekend originated in 2015 when a group of teenagers wore orange to honor their friend who was shot and killed on a playground in Chicago.

Since then, every year thousands wear the color to honor victims of gun violence.

“This is as much education as it is a time for us all to be showing solidarity. We’ll be walking across the lift bridge and back just as a show that this is something that we want people to know that is happening in our country and that we want to put an end to,” said Miksell.

At todays event, 120 flags were planted into the ground, representing the average number of people who are killed by gun violence every day.