TAMPA, Fla. — As part of a national movement against gun violence, called "Wear Orange," people gathered Friday evening in Tampa’s Curtis Hixon Park.
The first Friday in June is now recognized as National Gun Violence Awareness Day, followed by Wear Orange Weekend. This year, Wear Orange will take place from June 3-5, 2022.
According to the Wear Orange organization website, the color orange was selected to represent the gun violence prevention movement because it's what hunters wear in the forest to signal others to not shoot in their direction.
The event in Tampa kicked off at Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park at 6 p.m. Friday. There was a Peace Walk down the Riverwalk at 7:30 p.m.
For many who attended the event, the issue of gun violence is personal.
"This is actually the park where my son was killed, two years ago in May," Tampa local Annie Kwarteng said. "I have the chills; I haven't been here since he passed."
"I hurt every day and my family hurts every day, his sisters and brothers," Maria Guzman, a Tampa woman who lost her adult son in April, said. "Every day is a struggle."
Kwarteng said she has become an advocate for gun reform so to turn her pain into purpose.
"I just feel like I can’t sit back and not doing anything," she said. "I don’t want another family to feel the same pain that I feel, to experience the same trauma."
Several speakers addressed the crowd that came out, including a representative for Moms Demand Action and Tampa Police Chief Mary O'Connor.
"Tampa PD is in the business of keeping people safe," Chief O'Connor said. "We need to make sure that the community knows that we support action to keep the community safe...making sure that everyone knows are a partner with the community and that they feel they can thrive in this community without fear of danger."
Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren also gave a passionate speech, saying in part, "This is not a left [versus] right issue, this is not a red [versus] blue issue or even a Second Amendment issue. This is a public safety issue and common sense issue."
"Guns and bullets don’t care about ZIP Codes, they don’t care about party affiliation," said Warren. "They don’t care about anything except for killing people. And until more people come to sympathize with the lives that have been lost, nothing's going to change," he added. "No more thoughts and prayers, it’s time for policy and action and that’s what we’re demanding."
For more information on the 'Wear Orange' campaign, click here.