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Over a hundred people gather in downtown Cincinnati to advocate for gun safety

Hundreds of Wear Orange rallies, a gun violence prevention movement, took place across the country.
Wear Orange Rally.jpg
Posted at 10:47 AM, Jun 04, 2022
and last updated 2022-06-04 10:47:49-04

CINCINNATI — “Enough is enough.”

Hundreds of rallies advocating for gun safety took place across the country Saturday. National Gun Violence Awareness Day was on June 3 this year followed by Wear Orange Weekend.

Over a hundred people gathered at Fountain Square in downtown Cincinnati to call an end to gun violence.

“It’s been a heartbreaking couple of weeks, and a heartbreaking year. Already in 2022, the United States has had over 230 mass shootings including some here in Ohio,” said Cincinnati Moms Demand Action Local Lead Anna Albi.

Albi added more people are joining their effort to stop gun violence. She said in the state of Ohio 8,000 new people signed up to be a part of Moms Demand Action.

“There are so many of us who are dedicated to this who want to see the end of gun violence and safety for our communities, so I hope everyone walks away feeling inspired and ready to action to call on our leaders to do more,” Albi said.

Participants at the rally heard from gun violence survivors, elected officials, faith leaders and law enforcement.

Albi hopes people walk away feeling inspired.

“I hope they take hope away, we can end this gun violence epidemic there are so many of us out there,” she said.

She noted one of their big campaigns is secure firearms storage and worked with the Cincinnati Public School Board on this topic.

“In April, they passed a secure firearms storage solution which means the parents of all 35,000 children in the Cincinnati Public School area is going to get information about how to properly store and secure your gun at home,” she said.

Albi said unsecured firearms lead to hundreds of unintentional shootings.

She added it’s important for people to contact their U.S. Senator if they want them to pass common-sense gun laws.