Moms Demand Action volunteers and community members gathered Friday at Palace Coffee and Bakery in downtown Eugene to honor victims and survivors of gun violence.
Friday was National Gun Violence Awareness Day and the start of “Wear Orange” weekend, which began in 2013 after the death of 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton, who was shot on a Chicago playground.
Shortly after her death, friends of Hadiya commemorated her life by wearing orange, the color hunters wear to protect themselves in the forest.
“Our group is here today to support gun violence survivors and gun violence victims to raise awareness about the gun violence crisis in the U.S. and here in Oregon,” said Diane Peterson, volunteer leader of Moms Demand Action. “We come together in a show of solidarity to say we can do more and should do more to end gun violence.”
Moms Demand Action is a national organization that advocates for public safety measures that can protect people from gun violence. Local chapters of the organization work within communities to educate residents and business owners about responsible gun ownership.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 48,830 people died from gun-related injuries in the U.S. in 2021. Of that total, 54% of all gun-related deaths were suicides, while 43% were homicides. The remaining firearm deaths in 2021 were either accidental, involved law enforcement or undetermined circumstances.
Research from EveryStat, an online database that tracks gun-related deaths by state, shows that an average of 600 people die from guns in Oregon every year. With a rate of 13.3 deaths per 100,000 residents, Oregon has the 32nd highest rate of gun deaths in the US.
Community members who attended Friday’s event wearing orange received a dollar off their favorite drink at Palace Coffee. All donations from the event will go to the Oregon Chapter of Mom’s Demand Action to support community educational events on gun violence awareness.
“We’re not trying to take away all the guns, as some might think,” Peterson said. “We encourage a culture of responsibility around gun ownership. Along those lines, we offer a number of gun locks for free, we have a biometric safe donated by a local survivor.”
That survivor is Carol Manstrom, a Eugene resident and volunteer with Mom’s Demand Action, whose teenage son died by suicide by gun in 2017.
“I am a retired law enforcement officer and gun owner, but the issue of the deadly intersection between guns and suicide brought me to a point where I am raising my awareness through organizations that advocate for greater awareness of gun violence and ways to prevent all forms of gun violence” , Manstrom said.
School shootings, public shootings and gun violence in general got Bobbie Cirel, a Eugene resident and volunteer with Moms Demand Action, involved in advocacy and educating the community about gun violence.
“I couldn’t keep quiet,” Cirel said. “What I would like to see is people being fearless when they witness something that could potentially become gun violence. I really hope that events like this will help people make their voices heard when they see something.”
Haleigh Kochanski is a breaking news and public safety reporter for The Register-Guard. You can reach her at HKochanski@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: National Gun Violence Awareness Day recognized by the Eugene community
