How orange became the color for gun safety reform
More than 90 professional sports teams participated in Wear Orange this year, including the entire WNBA and both teams in the NBA Finals
To mark the eighth annual National Gun Violence Awareness Day last Friday, gun safety groups encouraged supporters to wear orange, a color that’s become a symbol because of its association with safety.
National Gun Violence Awareness Day and Wear Orange were started by friends of Hadiya Pendleton, a 15-year-old who was shot and killed in Chicago in 2013. First held on what would have been her 18th birthday in June 2015, they chose orange because the color is worn by hunters so they can be visible while hunting and not confused for game.
“The orange lets everyone know I’m here, I’m here, I’m standing out,” Pendleton’s father Nate said in a video from the gun safety reform group Everytown that year. Pendleton’s friends passed out orange shirts and buttons around Chicago, and the color is now used as a symbol nationally.
More than 370 events were held for National Gun Violence Awareness Day this year, according to Everytown, and more than 300 landmarks, buildings, and billboards were lit up orange, including the White House, Empire State Building, and the Washington National Cathedral.
But perhaps the biggest win for Wear Orange 2022 was how widely it was adopted by professional athletes. More than 90 teams participated this year, including the entire WNBA, both teams in the NBA Finals, the U.S. men’s national soccer team during its game against Uruguay on Sunday, and six teams out of Texas — the Houston Texans, Houston Dash, Dallas Wings, Houston Dynamo, San Antonio Spurs, and Dallas Mavericks.
The more than 90 participating teams represent about half of the roughly 180 professional baseball, football, basketball, hockey and soccer teams, according to Reuters. That’s way up from last year, when just 29 teams participated.

The shirts worn by members of the Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors for Game 2 of the NBA Finals read “End Gun Violence” on the front, with a call to learn more on the back with social media handles for groups including @everytown, @giffordscourage, and @marchforourlives.
“We feel very strongly as a league that it's time for people to take notice and to take part in what should be a nationwide effort to limit the gun violence that's out there," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said during a pregame interview Sunday. “There are things we can do that would not violate people's Second Amendment rights, but would save lives. The idea behind wearing the shirts for both teams is to make people aware that they can contribute to different gun safety, gun violence prevention groups.”
Other teams that participated in Wear Orange this year include the Pittsburgh Steelers, Pittsburgh Pirates, Philadelphia Eagles, Philadelphia Phillies, Philadelphia Union, Miami Marlins, Miami Dolphins, Phoenix Mercury, Washington Mystics, Washington Nationals, Washington Commanders, Chicago White Sox, Chicago Bulls, Chicago Cubs, Chicago Sky, Cleveland Cavaliers, Cincinnati Reds, Minnesota United, San Francisco Giants, San Francisco 49ers, Oakland A’s, Portland Thorns, Seattle Mariners, Milwaukee Brewers, and Connecticut Sun, according to Everytown.
See more >> [How the news media visualized the Uvalde, Texas school shooting]
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