TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — June 2 is National Gun Violence Awareness Day, set aside to honor Americans killed by gun violence and to renew the commitment to keeping communities and families safe.
"It's past time to make sure that we all do something," said Florida Moms Demand Action volunteer Gay Valimont. She started volunteering with the organization shortly after the Pulse nightclub shooting in 2016, advocating against what she calls an epidemic of gun violence. "It's an epidemic because 120 people are shot every day, and twice as many are shot and wounded, and live with their injuries."
According to gunviolencearchive.org, gun violence has caused more than 17,000 U.S. deaths this year, and left more than 14,000 with injuries, including those recently shot on a Florida beach-side boardwalk. "You know in Hollywood, people are fleeing from gun violence in public," Valimont said.
Florida State University's Dr. Benjamin Dowd-Arrow specializes in the role that firearms play on health and well-being, and says the impacts are costly. "So you have economic costs," he said. "On average, there is 200 and something billion dollars a year in associated cost with loss of productivity, loss in revenue, medical costs associated with gun violence survivors and their families, and the communities around them." He also says they're complex. "The survivors see a 40% increase in pain diagnosis, a 51% increase in psychiatric disorders, and an 85% increase in substance abuse." But most of all, he believe's they're preventable.
That's why moms like Valimont are calling for change.
"We're trying to change legislation and work on sensible gun laws." She and Dowd-Arrow both point to open-carry laws as a key point of contention. "We know that states that enact permit-less carry will have more gun deaths," Valimon said. Dowd-Arrow adds, "When we have a situation where we're not vetting individuals to make sure that they should be carrying a gun, and just anyone can now carry a gun, and we're relying on an honor system for people to not carry a gun if they're not supposed to, I think we can rightfully worry that events like we saw in Hollywood can happen more often."
Both feel assured there's a way to save lives without taking away the right to carry. "That requires people who own guns and like guns coming together with people who do not own guns, or maybe you're afraid of guns or don't want guns, to come up with some common sense solutions so that your rights aren't infringed, and you can actually enjoy your rights while ensuring that the people who are using those guns are the people who are responsible and safe."
It's cause Moms Demand Action and their supporters are willing to take to top lawmakers. "If the Florida legislature will not work on this, then we will have to take it federally, Valimont proclaims.
But this weekend, they'll continue the fight locally by wearing orange. Valimont asks that everyone show their concern for gun violence by joining them.
Tallahassee Mayor John Dailey is expected to visit with supporters at the Florida capitol Friday at 8 p.m. when they'll also light the capitol building orange in gun violence awareness observation.
