Gun Violence Awareness Month : JUNE
Find Answers to Your Frequently Asked Questions about Gun Violence Awareness Month
- Make a Soul Box and post it to #WearOrange and #SoulBoxProject. Then send it to a Soul Box Project Branch that is collecting Boxes.
- Plan an event, march, rally, or exhibit involving Soul Boxes.
- How many Boxes should I make—and do I have time? Before June, join with friends, family, faith community, bookclub, or your nearest Moms Demand Action chapter to make approximately 220-240 Soul Boxes to represent the average number of people injured or killed by gunfire (including suicides) every day in the U.S. in recent years. (See GunViolenceArchive.org to tally specific annual counts-and don’t forget suicides, which are over 50% of all deaths.)
Orange has become the defining color of the gun violence prevention movement. New York gun violence prevention advocate Erica Ford spearheaded orange as the color of peace through her work with her organization, Life Camp, Inc. The color orange honors the lives cut short and the hundreds more wounded by gun violence every day. Source: WearOrange.org/about/
The gun control debate has been going on for centuries in our nation. Clear back to the framers of the United States Constitution who first wrote the Second Amendment citing that private citizens has a right to “keep and bear arms”. It heightened after President John F. Kennedy was shot. But today it is at a public health crisis.
Fact: for people under 25, deaths caused by gun-related injuries are 2X that of cancer, 5X that of heart disease & 15X that of infections. That’s why over 80 medical groups agree that gun violence is a public health issue. #EndGunViolence Source: gunviolenceawarenessmonth.com/toolkit
It usually falls on the first full weekend of June, Friday-Sunday. (Check to confirm.) This is also known as the Wear Orange Day, and was founded to honor survivors and victims of gun violence. It originally began on June 2, 2015, on what would have been the 18th birthday of Hadiya Pendleton. You can read more about Hadiya’s death and the tribute her childhood friends started by wearing orange in commemoration of her life on our Wear Orange Day page.
You can get involved and support National Gun Violence Awareness Day in a few ways:
- Mark June #WearOrange on your calendars and confirm #WearOrange day/weekend (usually the first Friday and full weekend).
- Make a Soul Box and display or send it to a Branch collection Boxes.
- Plan an event, march, rally, or exhibit involving Soul Boxes (made in advance with friends and family).
- Attend an Everytown event in your community
- Create and wear orange (a pin, a scarf, an orange, or be creative and hold up any Orange item in your home). For more ideas, check out Everytown’s Facebook page.
- Go onto one of the official Wear Orange sites and share one of their pre-created social media posts on your personal or business social media page
- Display a poster from your window, door, office space or car