Federal data shows more people are dying from gun violence nationwide.
The CDC reports homicides rose during the pandemic with some of the highest increases among African Americans.
A new memorial in the Nation’s Capital honoring those victims.
Just beyond, the Washington monument, you’ll find 45,000 flowers lining the grassy lawn as a tribute.
“We all go to funerals but when it’s a child, it’s just so tough. It’s the what could have been,” said Linda Harllee Harper who visited the memorial this week.
Advocates say the flowers represent the more than 45,000 people who died from gun violence in 2020 based on recent CDC data. Within the memorial, 5,000 of those flowers are orange instead of white. Gun safety advocates say this reports the increase in gun violence. They say about 5,000 more people died in 2020 when compared to 2019.
One of those deaths is Davon McNeal, an 11-year-old who was shot and killed on July 4, 2020 in Washington, D.C.
“His loss was a loss to the whole community,” said Harper.
Harper knows Davon’s mother and she runs the DC Office of Gun Violence Prevention.
She’s hopeful this visual representation of grief reaches the Hall of Congress where gun restrictions are up for debate.
Harper says something must change especially for youth people who are coping with these tragedies too.
“Their friends are being traumatized by losing a friend, by being exposed to the trauma way too young. Like whole classrooms of kids going to honor their classmates,” said Harper. “It’s a lot that we’re putting our children through.”
It’s a pain that Lucretia Hughes Klucken said she knows all too well.
“What are you going to do to regulate evil because it’s never going anywhere,” she said.
Klucken said her youngest son was shot and killed in 2016 and as an NRA member, she believes more gun control isn’t the answer.
“I’m a strong advocate for the second amendment, for our law enforcement for our parents being able to protect themselves for us to able to protect ourselves,” said Klucken, a member of DC Project - Women for Gun Rights.
She wants more security at gun free zones like schools.
“I’d rather train you the proper way on firearm control then for them to take our weapons,” said Klucken.
As the debate continues on Capitol Hill, those flowers remain a reminder of the lives lost too soon until Saturday.
This same CDC report shows young Black men between the ages of 10 to 44 had the largest increase in homicide rates in 2020.