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Last updated on Tuesday, June 2, 2015
(INDIANAPOLIS) - Hoosiers are encouraged to wear orange today to support the first-ever National Gun Violence Awareness Day. The observance is intended to honor those whose lives are ended by gun violence.
The observance stems from the shooting death of a Chicago teen, 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton. Stephanie Mannon Grabow with the Indiana chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America says Hadiya's friends decided to wear orange to honor her life.
According to the Center for American progress, two people are killed by guns in Indiana every day.
"Orange is the color that hunters wear to signal human life and to signal to other hunters not to shoot. And out of that this movement has grown and so we're taking it national this year," Grabow says.
More than 120 organizations and 50 mayors pledged to wear orange today 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 adeed.
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