St. Louis County, Duluth mark Gun Violence Awareness Month with park gathering

Orange lights, safe-storage talks and two local proclamations turned a park gathering in Central Hillside into more than a memorial. At Central Hillside Community Park in Duluth, St. Louis County and city leaders used Gun Violence Awareness Month to press a practical message: prevention has to start at home, with firearm locks and conversations about how guns are stored.

The free gathering was held Saturday, June 6, from 10 a.m. to noon at Central Hillside Park, 12 East 4th Street. County materials said the monthlong campaign was meant to encourage conversations about safe storage of firearms, promote use of gun locks and honor those whose lives were cut short by firearms. The timing also placed the event squarely inside Wear Orange weekend, June 5-7, when people across the country wear orange to honor survivors of gun violence.

The park setting gave the event local urgency. Central Hillside is a neighborhood where many residents have seen the toll of violence firsthand, and the gathering put remembrance in direct conversation with the policies and partnerships officials say are needed now. On Tuesday, June 2, the St. Louis County Board and the City of Duluth issued proclamations for Gun Violence Awareness Month, signaling that the issue is being treated as a public safety responsibility, not only a community concern.

That local response comes as the Duluth Police Department says community policing and partnerships with the public remain a primary focus. The department has also launched a Transparency Hub with crime data and other dashboards, a move that gives residents a clearer view of violence trends and police activity. Together, those efforts show how city leaders are trying to pair prevention messages with public information and neighborhood engagement.

The broader numbers help explain why the message resonated. Johns Hopkins’ Center for Gun Violence Solutions says Minnesota had the 8th-lowest gun-homicide rate in the nation in 2023, but its increase in gun homicides from 2014 to 2023 was the 6th highest in the country. The center also reports that firearms were the fourth leading cause of death among Minnesota youth ages 1 to 17 in 2023. Protect Minnesota’s 2025 fact sheet counted 549 gun deaths in the state in 2025, including 424 suicides and 119 homicides, while separate Minnesota reporting said 564 people died from gun violence in 2024, a 6% increase from 2023. For Duluth and St. Louis County, the park gathering was a reminder that prevention work has to continue after the orange colors fade.