Wear Orange to Stop Gun Violence in Indiana
INDIANAPOLIS – Tuesday marks the first ever National Gun Violence Awareness Day, and Hoosiers are encouraged to wear orange to honor those killed by gunfire.
The observance stems from the shooting death of a Chicago teen, 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton. She died just one week after marching in President Barack Obama's second inaugural parade.
Stephanie Mannon Grabow, the Indiana chapter leader of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, says Hadiya's friends decided to wear orange to honor her life.
"Orange is the color that hunters wear to signal human life and to signal to other hunters not to shoot,” Grabow explains. “And out of that this movement has grown and so we're taking it national this year."
More than 120 organizations and 50 mayors have pledged to wear orange Tuesday to help honor the estimated 88 people killed by gun violence in America each day.
Grabow says more work needs to be done to keep guns from falling into the wrong hands. She says in Indiana, her group is advocating for universal background checks for all firearms.
"The most important aspect of this day is that we are raising this issue up so that we're all aware of it and helping people feel that they are taking action on this issue," she stresses.
According to the Center for American Progress, guns kill two in Indiana every day.
