San Diego County Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer joined San Diegans for Gun Violence Prevention Monday to kick off Wear Orange and Gun Violence Awareness Weekend and discuss recent efforts in preventing local gun violence.
The Wear Orange campaign takes place June 7-9 to “educate people about the dangers of gun violence and honor the lives lost to gun violence in San Diego County and across the nation,” a statement from Lawson-Remer’s office read.
Wear Orange began after 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton was shot and killed in Chicago in 2013. In recognition of the campaign, the County Administration Building will be lit orange this Friday evening.
“As a mother, I can’t imagine losing a child to gun violence,” Lawson-Remer said. “No one should have to face such a painful tragedy, yet in our society it has become all too common.”
“Gun violence can be prevented, and in San Diego County, we are taking the lead to keep our communities safe. Our policies are getting dangerous illegal guns off the streets, and keeping lawfully owned firearms secure and out of reach of children,” she said.
The supervisor has been a key player in recent legislation intended to prevent firearm violence, including a 2021 policy to prevent the possession and distribution of illegal, unserialized ghost guns.
According to Lawson-Remer’s office, that policy helped law enforcement take three times the number of ghost guns off the street as had been seized previously and allowed for 200 cases of violent crimes involving ghost guns to be prosecuted locally.
“We are grateful for all that the county of San Diego has done in the past few years to address gun violence, including undertaking a comprehensive Gun Violence Reduction assessment to address the violence that impacts all San Diegans,” said Therese Hymer, president of San Diegans for Gun Violence Prevention. “That assessment resulted in a work plan which identifies 17 near-term actions the county will pursue, including safe firearm storage education to enhance the implementation of the county’s safe storage law. We fully support this critical safety effort.”
Lawson-Remer also helped pass a policy authorizing the county to explore lawsuits against gun manufacturers. Earlier this year, the county partnered with GIFFORDS Law Center to initiate its first legal action against a firearm manufacturer by suing Texas-based Defense Distributed, who is “accused of rebranding illegal ghost gun manufacturing equipment to skirt California law,” a statement from the supervisor read.
City News Service contributed to this article.
