Hudson Valley: Wear Orange For Gun Violence Awareness Day

NYACK, NY — More than 200 mass shootings so far in 2023, more than 50 people a day killed in the United States by a gun — so with Gun Violence Awareness Day on Friday, the local chapter of Moms Demand Action will host its third annual picnic to honor and remember the victims and survivors and call for change.

"It's so tough," organizer Shari Maurer told Patch. "Last year, after Buffalo and Uvalde, we thought it was the worst. This year there are so many, I don't know where to turn."

The first Gun Violence Awareness Day was held on June 2, 2015, on what would’ve been Hadiya Pendleton's 18th birthday. She was fatally shot on a Chicago playground on Jan. 29, 2013, when she was 15, and a week after she marched in President Barack Obama's second inaugural parade. Shortly after her death, Pendleton's friends began wearing orange — her favorite, and the color hunters wear as a safety measure — to honor her life.

Once a single-day commemoration, it has grown to a three-day observance around the country. Spearheaded by Everytown for Gun Safety, the campaign asks Americans who want to save lives from gun violence to Wear Orange throughout the June 2-4 weekend.

The Nyack event is now in its third year.

"It's so special," Maurer said. "It's very low-key and mellow. We go down to Memorial Park, we picnic, the kids play on the playground. Then we come together, we hear from survivors. Last year, students from Tappan Zee High School read the names of the children shot in Uvalde. It starts getting a little dark and the bridge in the background lights up orange."

Moms Demand Action members know they're in a difficult struggle. Half the states in the USA have eliminated their permit process to carry a firearm openly or concealed.Tennessee added protections against lawsuits for gun and ammunition dealers, manufacturers and sellers just weeks after the March 27 shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville killed six people, including three 9-year-olds. According to Forbes magazine, in Texas, state law requires seventh-graders and up to know how to use bleeding control stations during a school shooting and lawmakers are considering lowering the age requirement to 8 years old.

In 2012, when Maurer was writing a column on Patch called "Moms Talk," she wrote about school shootings. Here's the article.

"The saddest thing is it's not better, it's worse, and that was 11 years ago," she said. "Everything is escalating. And when you have a gun, there are no takebacks."

Moms Demand Action works for what they believe is common sense gun safety. They call for background checks before guns are sold; for responsible gun storage; and for risk protection under enforced red flag laws.

"Most people, regardless of their political party, are in favor of common sense gun safety," Maurer said. "You need to lock up your guns if you have a child in the house. Nobody's going to check on that, they’re not coming to your house to check. But every day children find their parents' guns and shoot their siblings, their friends, themselves. We don't call those accidental shootings. They’re negligent."

Armed guards at school are not the answer, she said. Nor are the industries that have sprung up, making money off everyone's fear.

Take so-called bulletproof backpacks, she said. They don't stop bullets from an AR-15.

"What if the kid is in the corner hiding and thinks they have to go back and get their backpack as a shield?" she said.

Moms Demand Action even teaches parents how to ask, when their child is invited on a playdate, if there's a gun in the home and if it's locked up.

"It's all about keeping your kid safe," she said.

The annual Wear Orange event in Nyack has grown every year, she said.

"My speech last year said 'Here is why I grieve but I don't despair,'" Maurer said. "I have a lot of hope. We’ve passed a lot of laws in New York; we’re third strictest in the nation and third lowest in gun violence. You can absolutely see the correlation between the strictness of the laws and the amount of violence.

"Action feels good. Community feels good. You can get involved in elections and advocacy. We also support our survivors. We wish people weren't joining that club. But when they do, we want them to know there is a community for them."