As excited as we are to announce the return of The Newtown Bee print edition, scheduled for June 5, we are acutely aware that many annual spring and summer events remain off the books. St Rose Carnival, the Lions Club Duck Race, movies at Edmond Town Hall, the Friends of C.H. Booth Library Annual Book Sale — are just a few that will not be hosting crowds in upcoming weeks.

But one event of a more solemn nature, drawing dozens of supporters in recent years to our town in early June, will also not occur this year: Wear Orange Day, a walk/rally to raise awareness of gun violence in our nation. Wear orange anyway.

US Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Chris Murphy (D-CT) have joined a resolution in the Senate introduced by US Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) establishing June 5, 2020, as “National Gun Violence Awareness Day” and designating June as “National Gun Violence Awareness Month.”

We are reminded daily of the assault on our nation by the novel coronavirus — the death count so far this year has passed the 100,000 mark — people no longer with us to work, play, imagine, love, create. That is painful. Reflect, though, as well, on the 36,000 Americans killed and another nearly 74,000 injured by gun violence every year.

Gun safety at this time cannot be disregarded, even as we are hyperfocused on our lives affected by COVID-19. Guns not safely stored are deadly. Young people remain quarantined at home, some of them not well supervised, others supervised by adults distracted by endless concerns surrounding the pandemic. Gun sales surged in a wave of panic buying as town after town shuttered schools and businesses; more guns in more homes with more opportunities for the isolated and unhappy to commit suicide by gun – which counts for the method most commonly used; to harm others; for domestic incidents to escalate as tensions rise; for accidents to occur.

If we are not willing to support laws to prevent carnage, we can support a resolution as simple as the one proposed by our senators: be aware of these losses. Gun violence victims deserve one day out of 365, one month out of 12 to be remembered each year.

Like COVID-19, gun violence is a public health issue — a public health issue we can actually confront, unlike the elusive novel coronavirus.

The novel coronavirus has seen to it that no march will color the streets of Newtown orange this year. We have not, despite our distractions, though, forgotten the toll gun violence takes on people nationwide.

Let our senators know you support this resolution. Contact Sen Blumenthal at blumenthal.senate.gov/contact; reach Sen Murphy at murphy.senate.gov.

Rally or not, march or not, wear orange this year, on Friday, June 5, to honor those lives lost to suicide, murder, and accidents with guns.

Wear orange and know that others this year are joining you, somewhere, safely, in solidarity.

*Newtown Action Alliance invites all to wear orange, June 5, and tag them on social media using hashtags #WearOrange and #EndGunViolence as a virtual experience.