June 6 is National Gun Violence Awareness Day—a day created to bolster and demonstrate the collective power of the gun violence prevention movement.

The Friday observance, a special emphasis day on the Presbyterian calendar, provides an opportunity to recommit to working for a world free of gun violence. June 6 also marks the beginning of Wear Orange Weekend, June 6-8, when people are encouraged to wear orange to honor the survivors of gun violence. 

Each year for the past 11 years, hundreds of influencers, corporate partners, non-profit partners, landmarks, and elected officials participate in the conversation of the day, wear orange to honor survivors, and build community with those working to end gun violence.

The color-choice might seem peculiar to readers—why orange? For one, it’s the shade that hunters wear in the woods to protect themselves and others while chasing game. But there’s more to the story, and it starts with the loss of a young life. On January 29, 2013, fifteen-year-old Hadiya Pendleton was shot and killed at a playground in Chicago after just finishing up her final exams. A week before, she’d attended and participated in President Obama’s second inauguration—she was a majorette in her high school band, which performed during the events. First Lady Michelle Obama attended the funeral, and President Obama made mention of Pendleton’s murder in his 2013 State of the Union Address. In the grievous aftermath of this tragedy, Hadiya’s family and loved ones commemorated her life by donning orange clothing. Two years later, on June 2, 2015—what would have been Hadiya’s eighteenth birthday—Wear Orange originated.

Here we are, a decade later, about to commemorate the 11th annual National Gun Violence Awareness Day—will you be donning orange? In honor of the day, we have pulled a few images from the archives that highlight handgun discourse in the decades prior to the 21st century.

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In this image, a police officer is seen inspecting a handgun that was turned in during a 1975 Mass at St. Philip Roman Catholic Church in Columbus, Ohio. Another seventeen weapons gathered from congregants went on to join this one in being handed over to the police. Father Richard Engle, pastor of the parish, had spearheaded a campaign to “stop the flood of handguns in America,” the caption tells us. 

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“In the wake of the attempted assassination of President Reagan on Mar. 30, demonstrators carry signs on April 2, protesting hand guns, outside the hospital where Mr. Reagan is convalescing,” reads the caption of this image. President Reagan had been leaving the Washington Hilton hotel after delivering a luncheon address when he was shot and seriously wounded, the bullet puncturing a lung and breaking a rib. The Hilton where the incidence took place had a secure, enclosed passageway called the “President’s Walk,” constructed after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Reagan had not been wearing a bulletproof vest at this event, though that was often the norm, because there would be such a small window of public exposure—he just had to make it thirty feet from the hotel and his car. The first shot fired hit White House press secretary James Brady above his left eye. This wound caused significant brain damage and Brady passed in 2014 because of his injury. President Reagan survived the incident and was released on April 11 after recovering from surgery, but the moment did not pass quietly—it spurred legislation, headlines, news coverage, and protests, and the anti-gun discourse only grew when, a month later, someone shot the Pope.

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Pope John Paul II was shot and wounded on May 13, 1981—just a month after Reagan was released from the hospital following his assassination attempt. He survived and healed, and even went on to pardon his would-be-assassinator.

These two events, occurring in such quick succession, “aroused the indignation of the majority of Americans who strongly oppose handguns,” the caption of this photograph reads. This image of a handgun, used to illustrate a story about the passage of a gun control law in Connecticut, almost looks like a stock photo, allowing the caption to be the focus of the story:

“In a quick reaction to the Vatican violence, the Connecticut Senate has already passed a handgun bill it had rejected only a week earlier. The measure provides a mandatory minimum sentence for anyone convicted of carrying a gun. Other states may follow. There have already been 30 gun control bills introduced in the current Congress with proposals ranging from the banning of pistols to others that would establish mandatory sentences for crimes committed with pistols. Though more than 250,000 U.S. citizens are confronted each year by a criminal with a loaded gun and 9,900 of them lose their lives – close to 3 million new weapons are sold yearly.” A quick reminder here—these numbers reflect the data from 1981.

The caption continues, “Police records reveal that out of all the handguns bought for family security, most are more likely to accidentally kill a family member or friend than to stop a crime…The paradox is that only 2 percent of household burglars are ever shot. Recent Gallup and Harris surveys have determined that about 80% of all Americans favor firearms control, but experts believe that the use of small guns are most likely to proliferate as long as lawmakers continue to respond to the persuasion of organizations such as the Institute for Legislative Action, lobbying arm of the National Rifle Association (NRA), who seem to effectively block 'restrictive or prohibitive handgun control bills' whenever they are proposed.”

The final lines of the caption refer to the group mentioned earlier—the National Coalition to Ban Handguns—as “a bright prospect for gun control advocates,” especially as they had plans to target “these representatives for defeat in the 1982 elections.”

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Read the companion piece to this blog on the Presbyterian News Service and learn about the 1975 District of Columbia legislation regarding handguns, as well as the involvement of an American singer-songwriter in the anti-gun-violence movement.

On June 6 and the weekend that follows, we watch and join in as thousands nationwide honor Hadiya and all whose lives have been changed by gun violence.