SNAP, SEMO Moms Demand Action to hold prayer walk for Gun Violence Awareness Day

From Friday through Sunday, local groups are encouraging residents in the area to wear orange and will hold community events in observance of National Gun Violence Awareness Day during the weekend.

Leslie Washington of the local Moms Demand Action is a survivor of gun violence and domestic abuse.

"When we go back to that response by lawmakers, who are backed by the gun lobby, is that we need more guns to make us safer, but if more guns made us safer we would be the safest country on Earth," Washington said. "Armed professionals were at both the school in Uvalde and the grocery store in Buffalo. It is clearly not the answer."

National Gun Violence Awareness Day comes on the heels of the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, which took the lives of 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School. The shooting takes the toll of school shootings in 2022 up to 27. Ten days before the shooting in Texas, a shooter killed 10 people in a supermarket in Buffalo, New York.

According to Education Week, there has been a total of 27 school shootings this year, and 119 incidents since 2018. The organization tracks shootings where a firearm was discharged, where any person (other than the suspect) has a bullet wound resulting from the incident, that happen on K-12 school property or on a school bus, and that occur while school is in session or during a school-sponsored event, according to Education Week's website.

The U.S. ended 2021 with 693 mass shootings in 2021, 611 in 2020 and 417 in 2019, recorded by the Gun Violence Archive. A mass shooting is defined as any incident where four or more individuals are shot by a firearm.

Stop Needless Acts of Violence Please (SNAP) and SEMO Moms Demand Action will hold a community prayer walk from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday at Indian Park at 300 William St. in Cape Girardeau. The walk will be held to honor the victims and survivors of gun violence and will feature speakers, music and informational booths to educate attendees on the effects and prevention of gun violence. On Friday, Moms Demand Action will hold an informational event in Peace Park at 207 Broadway in downtown Cape Girardeau to complement the prayer walk Saturday.

National Gun Violence Awareness Day began after 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton of Chicago was shot and killed in 2013, a week after marching in President Barack Obama's second inaugural parade. The orange clothing represents the color hunters wear to notify other hunters to not shoot. Orange was also Pendleton's favorite color.

"I've just been putting my boots to the ground and trying to get the community involved as much as I possibly can because this is something that is near and dear to my heart. Too many children have been lost to gun violence," Washington said. "Communities of color are bearing the brunt of this inaction. Uvalde is a predominantly Hispanic community. The shooting in Buffalo was a racist attack on a Black community by a white supremacist. We deserve to be safe in school, at the grocery store, at our place of work and our neighborhoods no matter our race, immigration status."

Registration for the Prayer Walk begins at 9 a.m. Anyone interested may RSVP by sending ORANGE to 644-33 through text message or email at stopneedlessaovplease@gmail.com.