National Gun Violence Awareness Day Date in the current year: June 5, 2026

Gun violence is one of the most pressing issues in the United States. Tens of thousands of firearm-related deaths and injuries occur across the nation every year. While more than half of all firearm-related deaths are suicides, homicides also account for a significant number of such deaths. According to statistics, approximately two-thirds of homicide victims in the United States are killed with a firearm.

Gun violence is not unique to the United States, but it is more prevalent here than in most other developed countries for a variety of reasons. These reasons include an exceptionally high rate of civilian gun ownership due to the Second Amendment, socioeconomic inequality resulting in higher rates of violent crime in disadvantaged communities, and a lack of gun safety awareness.

Gun violence prevention is complicated because gun violence is not a single phenomenon. Different types of gun violence, such as suicide, urban gun homicide, domestic violence homicide, school shootings, mass shootings, accidental deaths involving firearms, and law enforcement-related gun deaths, have different risk factors and often require different prevention strategies. However, this is not a reason to give up; if anything, it’s a reason to raise awareness about gun violence and advocate for prevention.

National Gun Violence Awareness Day was created to honor the memory of Hadiya Pendleton, a 15-year-old high school student who was shot and killed in a Chicago playground only a week after participating in a parade for President Barack Obama’s second inauguration. The perpetrators were two gang members who claimed to have mistaken Hadiya and her friends for members of a rival gang. In August 2018, they were both found guilty of first-degree murder.

After Hadiya’s death, her friends wore orange in her honor. They chose this color because hunters wear bright orange for safety; it makes them highly visible to other hunters and helps prevent accidental shootings. They also launched Project Orange Tree, a youth-led organization that educates young people about structural violence.

The inaugural National Gun Violence Awareness Day took place on June 2, 2015, the day that should have been Hadiya’s 18th birthday. Since then, the day has been observed on the first Friday in June as part of the annual Wear Orange Weekend, which honors those killed or wounded by gun violence.

You can participate in the campaign by attending a Wear Orange event near you, organizing an event of your own, wearing orange to raise awareness and start conversations, posting about the campaign on social media with the hashtag #WearOrange, or donating to an organization that supports the families of gun violence victims or advocates for gun control.