Wearing orange for gun violence awareness

Orange is worn because that is the color that hunters wear to stay safe, Laura Burns from the group Moms Demand Action said. Other groups like Moms Demand Action who fight for gun safety in America such as Life After Loss ANDRE, local politicians, and attendees all wore orange on June 3 for National Gun Violence Awareness Day.

The Wear Orange event in Eisenhower Park on June 3 brought people together all over Long Island to promote common sense gun legislation and gun safety in the country.

Some people who attended were survivors of gun violence. Others were those who lost family and friends to gun violence, such as Stephanie Draine, founder of Life After Loss ANDRE.

“There are too many guns on our streets, in our communities, taking lives,” Draine, who started her organization with her husband to raise awareness and help others after her 26 year old son was killed in 2014, said. “Some of the conversation may be a little painful but everything that we’re going through now is painful. So the truth has to come out and as we know sometimes the truth hurts.”

National Gun Violence Awareness Day comes only a week and two days after the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas where 21 people were killed, including children.

'Thoughts and prayers don’t work anymore,' State Senator Kevin Thomas, a Democrat, said. 'We took action last night. I was on the floor debating for two hours on a bill that is so common sense and we ended up passing that bill as well as nine other bills for common sense gun safety here in the state of New York.'

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