At courthouses, parks and public squares around Maryland, you might notice flocks of orange-clad people this weekend.
They’re part of Wear Orange weekend, a national event dedicated to demanding more rigorous gun safety laws and remembering the thousands of lives gun violence takes every year. Participants wear orange in remembrance of Hadiya Pendleton, a Chicago teenager who was gunned down in 2013.
On Friday, which is recognized as National Gun Violence Awareness Day, gun control advocates hosted a memorial in Baltimore County. Dozens gathered in orange shirts. On the lawn were pinwheels representing each life lost in the county to gun violence since the start of 2023: 113.
In front of the Historic Baltimore County Courthouse in Towson, Susie Ballenger remembered surviving not one but two shootings. During the first, she was a teenager watching a parade in San Antonio. Her friend sitting next to her sustained a bullet wound to the leg but lived. The second time, she was chaperoning a school trip in Chicago when the group got caught in crossfire; a student and teacher were both shot on that trip but survived.
Ballenger relives that trauma through the nightly news and the letters sent home about shooting drills at her kids’ schools. “I know that I am a survivor. Because I can't help but feel again, a sense of hopelessness, a sense of despair,” she said, “[but] a sense also to stand up.”
Moms Demand Action of Baltimore County was one of the lead organizers of the ceremony in Baltimore County— the weekend will be marked by memorials and rallies led by different organizations. Gun violence is now the leading cause of death among teenagers and young people. The latest complete data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that Maryland has a fatality rate of 15.2 per 100,000 people, making it 31st in the nation. Research shows that gun violence has been surging around the country, with a 45% increase in gun homicides during the pandemic, according to a Johns Hopkins analysis.
Denise Reid spoke in remembrance of her son Tavon Terrell Waters Sr., a young father struck by a stray bullet while stopped at a red-light in Northeast Baltimore. She learned after his death that he was quietly volunteering in his community; he gave other students rides to college and handed out food to people in need in Park Heights. “He was a servant,” she said. “A very special young man.”
“We can, we will, and we must make a difference,” Reid told the people gathered on Washington Street. “We can end senseless gun violence.”
The Moore administration has already passed what some call the nation’s strictest gun control laws, including limits to concealed carry that drew a lawsuit from the NRA.
Communities across Maryland will honor the weekend with their own Wear Orange events. In some places, public buildings will be lit up in orange.
The Moore administration has already passed what some call the nation’s strictest gun control laws, including limits to concealed carry that drew a lawsuit from the NRA.
The ceremony began and ended with music from the Park School choir, The Eighth Notes.
Baltimore County Johnny Olszewski recognized the day with a proclamation.
