Gov. Wolf At Norristown Rally Protesting Gun Violence

NORRISTOWN, PA — Gov. Wolf was in Norristown Friday afternoon to rally with gun control activists and to call for stronger legislation aimed at preventing gun violence. It's one of nearly 750 grassroots events planned nationwide from Friday through Sunday to call for an end to gun violence in America.

The so-called "Wear Orange 2019" campaign events are part of the fifth annual National Gun Violence Awareness Day on Friday, June 7. The local rally organized by the nonprofit Cease Fire PA was held at the Montgomery County Courthouse steps.

"It is time to end gun violence in Pennsylvania,” Gov. Wolf said. “We need to end mass shootings, homicide shootings, and suicides by gun. We must do everything we can to make our communities safer. And I’m proud to stand today with elected officials, religious leaders and those who know directly how horrific gun violence is on a personal level."

While solutions to gun violence radically differ between Democrats and Republicans and large chunks of the American public, new legislation could be forging some common ground between the two sides, even if slowly.

Extreme risk protection orders, first proposed in Pennsylvania by Montgomery County Republican State Rep. Todd Stephens (R-151), aim to keep weapons away from individuals who have been identified as a threat to themselves or to others. The notion has garnered a degree of bipartisan support.

>>PA Lawmakers, Activists Debate New Type Of Gun Control Law

Wolf was joined Friday by Democratic Montgomery County Commissioners Valerie Arkoosh and Ken Lawrence, as well as Cease Fire PA's executive director Shira Goodman and other leaders.

Rally attendees were encouraged to wear orange. Organizers chose the color orange in honor of 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton, who was gunned down in Chicago a week after performing at President Barack Obama's second inaugural parade in January 2013. Hadiya's friends wore orange in her honor.

With reporting from Patch correspondent Chris Gaudet