A proclamation declaring June 3rd as National Gun Violence Awareness Day, June 3 - 5 as Wear Orange Weekend and June as Gun Violence Awareness Month.
It's been a minute. Hart with Herndon. With Councilman Herndon. So great work to the leadership. Denver class. Councilmember Cashman, would you please read the proclamation? 20 2-6 28 for us. Yes, thank you, Madam President. This proclamation 20 2-6 28 declaring June 3rd as National Gun Violence Awareness Day, June 3rd through fifth as where orange weekend in June is Gun Violence Awareness Month, whereas 41,000 Americans are killed annually by guns, an average of 110 each day and another 85,000 are shot and wounded every year. And. Whereas, the US accounts for only 4% of the world's population, but 35% of global suicides and Americans are 25 times more likely to be killed with guns than people in other high income countries. And. WHEREAS, in Colorado, 78% of firearm deaths are suicides. Nearly half of all suicide deaths in Colorado involve the use of a firearm, which is the most common method of suicide death in the state. And. Whereas, in 2021 in Colorado, 850 persons died from gun violence, with suicides claiming 633 lives and homicide another 182, with the majority of those dying from gun violence being less than 35 years of age. And. Whereas, in 2021, in Denver, 96 people died by homicide, with 85% of those committed by firearm. Another 228 people were shot but survived their injuries. And. Whereas, the Denver metropolitan area continues to remember and suffer the devastating impacts of mass shootings, including Columbine High School in 1999 and the imore Aurora Movie Theater in 2012. And. Whereas, research indicates there have been more lives lost from gun fire in America than in all the wars in which U.S. troops have been engaged since our nation's founding. And. WHEREAS, protecting public safety and the communities they serve is City Council's highest responsibility. And. Whereas, in January 2013, Hadiya Pendleton, a teenager who marched in President Obama's second inaugural parade and was tragically shot and killed just weeks later, should be now celebrating her 21st birthday. And. Whereas, to honor Hadiya and the 110 Americans whose lives are cut short and the 230 plus survivors who are injured by shootings every day, a national coalition of organizations designated the first Friday in June as the fourth National Gun Violence Awareness Day. And. WHEREAS, the idea was inspired by a group of friends who asked their classmates to commemorate her life by wearing orange. Choosing this color because hunters wear orange to announce themselves to other hunters when out in the woods and where. As anyone can join this campaign by pledging to wear orange on the first Friday in June every year to help raise awareness about gun violence. And. Whereas, by wearing orange on June 3rd through fifth 2022, Americans will raise awareness about gun violence and honor the lives of the victims and survivors. And. Whereas, we renew our commitment to reduce gun violence and pledge to do all we can to keep firearms out of the wrong hands and encourage responsible gun ownership to help keep our children safe. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed by the Council of the City and County of Denver, Section one, that the Council of the City and County of Denver declares the first Friday of each year, first Friday in June of each year, this year, June 3rd, 2022 to be National Gun Violence Awareness Day, June 3rd through fifth to be aware orange weekend and the entire month of June to be National Gun Violence Awareness Month and encourages all citizens to support their local. Community's efforts to prevent the tragic effects of gun violence and to honor and value human lives. Section two that the clerk of the city and county of Denver shall attest. And a fix the seal of the city and county of Denver to this proclamation and a copy be transmitted to Everytown for Gun Safety. Thank you, Councilmember Cashman. Your motion to adopt. Yes. Thank you. I move that proclamation 22 days, zero 6 to 8, be adopted. Thank you. It's been moved and seconded. Comments by members of Council. Councilmember Cashman. Thank you. Madam President, I hate reading this proclamation every year. Those statistics are just mind numbing. They don't get better. Every year they get worse. Denver is in the midst of experiencing its own epidemic of gun violence. They're ending up in younger and younger hands. It is. It's just breathtaking and it's disappointing. And everybody I talk to, it's one of the main things on their mind. You know, I always tell people, you know, when I first took office back in 2015, the phone calls were about development, development, development, and now they're about crime, crime, crime, gun violence. It's something we need to wrap our hands around. I don't sit here with the answer, but I'm certainly willing and anxious to be part of the discussion. So with that, Madam President, I just ask my colleagues to join me in supporting this proclamation. Thank you, Councilmember Cashman. Councilmember Sawyer. Thank you, Madam President. Just wanted to thank Councilman Cashman for bringing this proclamation forward this year. It is incredibly important. We youth gun violence is an epidemic in our city and in our country at this point. As you know, I've been working to run a gun buyback program. We had our most recent event this past weekend at Park Church. We took in another 55, I believe, weapons, although several of those were big guns, which totals a little over 360 weapons taken in in less than 10 hours over the course of this year. So it's really, really extraordinary how many weapons are out there, how many people inherit them and don't know what to do with them, don't know how to get rid of them, you know, or people, you know, experience trauma related to gun violence and don't know how to find closure. So this is really, really important. I will just say this weekend, the the the mother of a young man, 17 year old student at South High School who was killed several years ago, Devery Armstrong spoke at the event and it was extraordinary and sad. She told us that when Daivari was killed there were three friends of hers, so she and three friends got together. They were all mothers who had lost their sons to gun violence. That was two and a half years ago. There are now 19 mothers who are part of their support group. And that's extraordinary and sad. And and so I just want to thank Councilman Cashman for bringing this forward. I want to bring attention to this issue. And I hope we will all wear orange and just want to also let people know. Our next gun. Buyback event will be. Held on June 11th in Aurora at Heritage Christian Church, which is right next door to the theater where the Aurora mass shooting occurred. It is national gun buyback day on June 11th. So we will host the buyback from 10 to 1 and then we will do an event in partnership with the Broncos afterwards. It will be from 4 to 6 p.m. and the public is invited to come and join us. And I hope you all will. It will be a really, really, I think, moving event. So we're doing what we, you know, one small part of a greater community safety strategy that everyone is working on, recognizing this epidemic. And I just really think, Councilmember Cashman, for bringing this forward and elevating the conversation. Thanks. Thank you very much for your and likewise appreciate Councilman Cashman shining a light on this and making sure that we're continuing to remember those who were lost, but making sure that we're doing everything we can to mitigate any future loss of life. Madam Secretary, Roll Call CdeBaca. I. Cashman. I can teach. I. Sandoval. I swear, I. Torres, I. Black eye. Clark All right. Flynn. I. Hi. Hi. Madam President. I. Madam Secretary, close the voting and announce the results. 11 Eyes. 11 Eyes. Proclamation 20 2-0 6 to 8 has been adopted. Councilman Cashman will start that five minute timer, if you'd like to introduce. Who will accept the proclamation? Yes. Thank you, Madam President. We should have Abby Winters from every town on virtual. Right. I'll go ahead and get Abby moved over. Thanks for raising your hand, Abby. Go ahead, Abby. You can unmute. City Council. Councilman, can you hear me? Yes. Thank you. Thank you so much for your time, Madam President and Council Members, thank you for declaring National Gun Violence Awareness Month and the weekend of June 3rd through the fifth where orange weekend. As you heard Councilman Cashman relay the statistics and remind us that this gun violence epidemic, it's not getting better. It's getting worse. Where orange is the time to renew our commitment, our opportunity to remember and mourn and lift up those impacted by gun violence. We are looking forward to joining with our community members that that weekend and throughout the month of June to rededicate ourselves to this work so that mothers, as Councilwoman Sawyer expressed, mothers like Daivari don't have to share their soul crushing stories about losing their child so that we don't have to hear about children accessing unnecessary deaths and not and not surviving. So to be very brief, thank you all for your work on this, for your continued support. And please join us the weekend of June 3rd through the fifth for our several events around the area. We hope to see you there. Thank you again. And thank you, Councilman Cashman, for bringing the proclamation. Thank you very much, Abby, and thank you, Councilman Cashman, for sponsoring this important proclamation as well. Madam Secretary, would you please read the bills for introduction?