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Wear Orange Weekend Event To Prevent Gun Violence Is Saturday In Neptune Beach

Wearorange.org file photo
Moms Demand Action will hold a Wear Orange Weekend event Saturday in Neptune Beach.

National Gun Violence Awareness Day is Friday, June 4.  Advocates of reducing gun violence in America are taking part in a campaign called Wear Orange Weekend.

The symbolism of wearing fluorescent orange stems from the color hunters wear to keep themselves from being shot.

Crystal Turner, with the local chapter of Moms Demand Action, is tragically aware of the toll gun violence can exact.  Her son and daughter were shot to death in Jacksonville in 2015 by the daughter’s estranged husband. 

“That day, as many know, changed our lives forever, changed my life in ways I never thought, and one of those was becoming an advocate for gun safety and gun control in my community,” she said Thursday on First Coast Connect with Melissa Ross.

Moms Demand Action wants common sense gun laws to make communities safer.  They plan to hold an event this Saturday, June 5, in the old Kmart shopping center at 500 Atlantic Boulevard in Neptune Beach.

The full interview with Turner and fellow Moms Demand Action spokeswoman Katie Hathaway can be heard on Thursday’s First Coast Connect with Melissa Ross, which encores at 8 p.m. on WJCT News 89.9.

Michelle Corum can be reached at mcorum@wjct.org, 904-358-6308 or on Twitter at @MCorumonME.

Michelle Corum joined WJCT as "Morning Edition" host in 2012 and has worked in public broadcasting as an announcer and reporter for public radio stations in Lawrence, Kansas, and Interlochen, Michigan. She also manages WJCT's Radio Reading Service for sight-impaired listeners.