June is National Gun Violence Awareness Month, and this weekend (June 6-8) is a special Gun Violence Awareness Weekend known as Wear Orange Weekend. 

Wear Orange Weekend honors the life of Hadiya Pendleton. On January 21, 2013 Hadiya marched in President Obama’s second inaugural parade. One week later, she was shot and killed on a playground in Chicago. On June 2, 2015—what would have been Hadiya’s 18th birthday—her friends and family partnered with nationwide efforts to curb gun violence to create Wear Orange Weekend.

Get involved locally:

• Find and participate in a Wear Orange event near you, and wear orange to your church’s Sunday service this weekend.
• Plan a gun violence prevention event at your church, and request funds from OPW to support it.

Contact your elected officials to demand progress on federal gun laws:

• Gun violence is an epidemic in America, one that can only be ended through national legislation that prioritizes community safety and holds bad actors accountable. Sadly, while Congress should be passing policies that keep us safe, they are instead considering legislation that would gut life-saving gun laws. H.R. 38 / S. 65 proposes a new federal mandate that would force every state to recognize every other state’s laws for carrying a concealed firearm in public. In effect, this weakens gun laws everywhere, rolling back protections in states that have acted to keep their citizens safe. Tell your elected officials to oppose H.R. 38 / S. 65.
   
• In other areas, federal laws which regulate the sales of firearms are lacking or nonexistent. On the one hand, the federal laws that gun dealers are required to follow are outdated, and bad actors routinely abuse loopholes in these laws to sell tens of thousands of guns that are trafficked across state lines. These guns end up in the hands of people who would otherwise be barred from owning them such as criminals and domestic abusers. Tell your elected representatives to support strengthening regulations on gun retailers by supporting H.R. 2618 / S. 1294 which cracks down on rogue gun dealers.
   
• Finally, some guns have no place in civilian life. Assault weapons designed for lethal efficiency in active warzones are unsporting and unsafe. As we have seen time and time again, these weapons are the most common firearm used in mass shootings. From schools to parades to fairs, assault style weapons have made mass casualty events the norm in American life. We can and must channel our grief, fear, and anger at these senseless losses of sacred human life to demand that our elected officials take action to pass The Assault Weapons Ban of 2023 (S. 23 / H.R. 698) and The GOSAFE Act (S.3369 / H.R. 8600).

This is not merely a political debate—it is a matter of faithful public witness. Together we can help bring God’s shalom to a nation addicted to the idolatry of guns and numb to the self-destruction they wreak. As followers of Jesus Christ and members of a Reformed tradition committed to justice, equity, and the common good, we must pursue peace in the face of violence in order to promote the flourishing of all.

Write to your Members of Congress today. Speak out in defense of public safety and gun reform. Our children and our communities depend on it.