SALISBURY — Women for Community Justice, along with the Salisbury-Rowan NAACP, Salisbury Indivisible and Rowan Concerned Citizens, will hold a public event June 3 in Salisbury to call for an end to gun violence.

One year after the massacre in Uvalde, Texas, where a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers and injured 17 others, the local social justice groups are coming together for Wear Orange Weekend. The event will take place from noon to 1 p.m. in front of the Rowan County Administration Building, located at 130 W. Innes St.

The Wear Orange movement started in 2015 and now features three days of events across the country, including National Gun Violence Awareness Day.

Local coalition leaders invite the public to join in a peaceful event to raise awareness of the toll that gun violence takes in this community and across the United States. More than 120 lives are cut short and hundreds more people are wounded by gun violence every day. Attendees are encouraged to wear orange, which has become the defining color of the gun violence prevention movement.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control:

• Firearms are now the leading cause of death for children and teens in America. Children dying by gun violence is a uniquely American tragedy. No child should live in fear of gun violence — in their schools, neighborhoods or anywhere.
• 6 million children in the U.S. live in homes with guns that are both loaded and unlocked. Every year, hundreds of children gain access to guns and shoot themselves or someone else. Wear Orange Weekend raises awareness about the importance of secure gun storage — storing guns unloaded, locked and separate from ammunition.
• Access to a gun triples the risk of death by suicide. Nearly 24,000 people in America take their lives with a gun every year. That’s an average of 65 deaths a day. Disrupting access to guns in times of crisis can save lives.

Women for Community Justice, the Salisbury-Rowan NAACP, Salisbury Indivisible and Rowan Concerned Citizens have previously worked together on successful social justice events and initiatives. Women for Community Justice have obtained a permit from the Salisbury Police Department for the event.

People who have been impacted by gun violence and would like to speak at the event should email women4communityjustice@gmail.com.