June 2nd Recognized as National Gun Violence Awareness Day

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Each day many lives are lost across America due to gun violence.

“They’re just seeing the here and the now and when they get upset, they’re so quick to pull a gun out and pull the trigger,” says Captain Danny Barron of the Troy Police Department.

Pulling that trigger could lead to the worst scenario, which is why National Gun Violence Awareness Day promotes the wear orange movement.  The day was started after 15-year-old Hadiyah Pendleton was shot and killed by random gunfire in Chicago. in 2013. Troy police say it’s becoming all too common.

“It is a problem, not just in this area but throughout the United States,” says Barron.

But what’s the solution? Officers believe it takes communities banding together to cut down on gun violence.

“When they see individuals with guns, when they know that individuals have guns and feel like it could be a problem don’t wait-pick up the phone and call us.”

When it comes to kids and guns. Officers believe parents should keep them out of sight in their homes, to keep what kids are seeing in movies and on television from becoming reality.

“It kind of glamorizes the use of weapons in an altercation and it almost desensitizes our youth,” says Barron.

That desensitization is what officers believe cuts lives to short.

“I would love for everybody-not just kids, but adults also to stop and think about what gun violence does to the person you took the life from but also to the family, to the friends to those individuals that have lost their lives,” says Barron.

According to everytown.org, 93 Americans are killed each day by guns.