National Gun Violence Awareness Day and Wear Orange Weekend

PROCLAMATION

Harper’s Choice Community Association Recognizes the First Friday in June as National Gun Violence Awareness Day and Wear Orange Weekend

WHEREAS, each year in the United States, more than

1. 38,500 individuals are killed and 85,000 individuals are wounded by gunfire; and

2. 14,000 individuals are killed in homicides involving guns; and

3. 23,000 individuals die by suicide using a gun; and

4. 480 individuals are killed in unintentional shootings; and

WHEREAS, since 1968, more individuals have died from guns in the United States than have died on the battlefields of all the wars in the history of the United States; and

WHEREAS, as reported by the FBI, there were 61 “active shooter” incidents in the United States last year, an increase of more than 50 percent from 2020 and more than twice as many as five years ago; and

WHEREAS, the total number of mass shootings in 2021 is 13.4 percent higher than 2020 and have claimed 702 lives and injured 2,844 people; and

WHEREAS, every year in the United States, more than 3,000 children and teens are killed by gun violence and 15,000 children and teens are shot and wounded; and

WHEREAS, approximately 8,800 people in the United States under the age of 25 die because of gun violence annually; and

WHEREAS, in the wake of multiple, continuing gun violence tragedies in the United States, the fight to end gun violence has never been more urgent and we join together with Moms Demand Action and the many other similarly positioned organizations to demand a future free from gun violence once and for all; and

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT PROCLAIMED THAT, the Harper’s Choice Community Association supports:

1. the designation of “National Gun Violence Awareness Day,” in remembrance of the victims of gun violence; and

2. promoting greater awareness of gun violence and gun safety; and

3. wearing orange, the color that hunters wear to show that they are not targets, on “National Gun Violence Awareness Day;” and

4. bringing community members and leaders together to discuss ways to make communities safer.