Gun show bill

The gun lobby’s loss may free legislators
[12-4-08]

In an editorial on December 2, 2008, the New York Times declared:

The gun lobby has long intimidated politicians with its war chest and its trumpeted ability to deliver single-issue voters, especially in tight races. After this year’s election, those politicians should be far less afraid and far more willing to vote for sensible gun-control laws.

The full editorial >>

Freedom under fire

Gun violence jeopardizes American way of life in costly ways, speaker says at Stony Point conference [9-23-08]

Presbyterian News Service has reported on a conference held Sept. 15-17, 2008, at the Stony Point Center in upstate New York, on the subject of “Gun Violence and Gospel Values.”

The report begins:

Gun violence threatens the nature of society, costing us in ways that is difficult to quantify but affects us all deeply, a leading expert told about 40 Presbyterians gathered here for a conference on the topic Sept. 15-17.

“There are real dollar costs in hardening our society [against gun violence], in making airports secure, in making schools secure,” said Dr. Garen J. Wintemute, a professor of emergency medicine and director of the Violence Prevention Research Program at the University of California, Davis, School of Medicine in Sacramento, CA.

“But the larger costs I think are intangible, they’re indirect. Gun violence threatens the nature of our society as a free and open society,” Wintemute continued. “It scares us. We live our lives to a greater or lesser extent with fear because of gun violence.”

The full report >>

Looking toward General Assembly 2008

National Capital Presbytery calls church to repent of our silence on gun violence

by Jim Atwood
[5-24-08]

Just recently we learned of another milestone in the War in Iraq. No one knows how many Iraqis have been killed in that conflict, but we do know that 4,000 American service men and women lost their lives in the five years that this war has been waged. Each of their deaths is a tragedy.

But to put those tragic deaths in perspective, we lose 4,000 persons to gun violence in the United States every fifty days, and it continues over and over and over again. Eighty people every day are killed; nine of them are children or youth. These deaths are homicides, suicides and accidental shootings. That’s where we are domestically.

Recently the US supplanted France and Russia as the leading exporter of small arms to the developing nations of the world. One thousand persons die every day with these weapons which are sold to any nation that would side with us in our War on Terror, in spite of State Department warnings that many of these countries have abominable records on human rights. That, in short, is where we are internationally.

This reality, especially the domestic carnage is not something other nations face. They, in fact, are baffled as to why we permit it, especially when the vast majority of Americans support strict gun control measures. Gun violence is a unique national problem that needs to be addressed by Christians whom Jesus called peacemakers. It is impossible for me to believe that Almighty God wills the deaths of 30,000 people every year through gun violence in our country. God is concerned that America has lost more people to gun violence since 1963 than have been killed in all the wars of the 20th century.

The resolution on gun violence sent by National Capital Presbytery to the General Assembly calls on the Church of Jesus Christ to repent of the fact that we are as quiet about gun violence as the proverbial church mouse. But repentance in New Testament terms never means hanging our heads in despair but lifting up our heads in faith and trust in God and breaking our silence as we begin to talk about the problem; to talk with one another, to discuss, to argue, to dialogue, to come to some measure of discernment as to what God would have us do in this world so that God’s reign on earth would be as visible as God’s reign in heaven.

A faithful Church needs to hear about gun violence from the pulpit, from the Sunday School Class, from women’s circles and men’s groups. We need to talk about the problem. Some people, particularly those who believe that guns save lives will be angry that the discussion is taking place at all and will say this is not an appropriate subject to discuss in church. They will want the preacher to pray about it, because that’s what the church does, right? Well, partly. But prayer is not enough; we must talk and we must act, but first we must actually talk about it. Certainly the numerous Presbyterians who hold advanced degrees, can develop ways to have responsible civil discussions within our church families on this issue.

Then again, this resolution encourages the church to take some concrete action. One measure to renounce the violence that is taking over our cities and towns is for Pastors and Sessions to organize a group of members and or friends and go to places in your neighborhood where there have been shootings or killings and have a brief time of worship. In those few moments the church can tell the world that we deplore gun violence and there is a better way to solve anger and injustice than killing our neighbors who are also God’s children.

I trust that you will see the merit of this resolution and will encourage your presbytery’s commissioners to vote for it at GA.

Read the full text of the Resolution >>

The author:

Jim Atwood is a retired Presbyterian Minister who has served churches in North Carolina, and Virginia and as a missionary in Japan where he was the Co- Director of the Student Christian Fellowship in Tokyo. He has been fighting gun violence since 1975 when one of his members at Grace Church in Springfield, Virginia, was brutally killed by a teenager who was out of money and picked up a gun from a buddy at the local bowling alley. He has represented the PCUSA on the Board of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence and served two terms as its Chair. He was also The Interfaith Chair of the Million Mom March.

Gun Violence and Gospel Values
Stony Point Center
September 15 - 17

[4-10-08]

Sponsored by Stony Point, the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship, the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program, and the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy, this colloquium will explore ways in which the church must respond to growing gun violence in communities across the United States. Save the dates; stay tuned for more information!

Join a Lie-in against guns -- April 16
[4-3-08]

Join or start a National Lie-in on April 16 with concerned citizens who believe it is too easy to purchase guns in America. This initiative was started by 32 women in Alexandria, Virginia who held a civil protest to express outrage over the shootings that took place at Virginia Tech. The group is not against hunters, guns for private Protection or collectors of guns. They support background checks for gun purchases and keeping guns out of the hands of criminals. More >>

Gun Crazy – but it's time to seek a little sanity [3-4-08]

The New York Times, in an editorial on March 1, urged that US political leaders (and specifically, those campaigning for the presidency) be called to account for the lack of meaningful legislative action to rein in the out-of-control availability of guns in this country.

Helpful measures might include requiring background checks for every gun purchase, limiting each individual to a maximum of one gun purchase per month (to limit trafficking), and reviving the ban on the sale of assault weapons.

The full editorial >>

Where's the debate over gun control? [2-25-08]

Liliana Segura, an AlterNet staff writer and Editor of the Rights & Liberties section, posted this reflection on Feb. 22:

The campus shooting at Northern Illinois University may be old news by now, but forgive me for thinking it might have presented an opportunity at last night's debate for someone to ask Hillary or Obama about gun control. Can you remember the last time either candidate talked about it? The last time any Democratic presidential contender did? Thinking "Dems" and "guns" leaves me with images of John Kerry in a hunting outfit. Embarrassing.

The rest of her essay >>

When “‘prayers’ just won’t do”

On the recent spate of school killings and challenge of the gun lobby
[2-21-08]

Tim Rutten, writing in the Los Angeles Times recently, lamented the numerous shootings recently in schools around the nation.

All these wrenchingly tragic crimes are linked by a common factor – the ubiquity of guns in America. Given that we're in the midst of the most hotly contested presidential campaign in recent memory, you'd think that all this bloodletting might become a campaign issue. If you thought that, you'd have reckoned without regard to the gun lobby's near-total victory among the politicians of both political parties. ...

The truth is that guns make the malicious, the malcontent and the mad powerful. They confer the power of life and death on the demented and deranged – and yet we do nothing. There are more guns circulating in the U.S. today than ever before, somewhere around 250 million, according to projections by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

Rutten’s article >>

Your WebWeaver found this article instructive, but checked it out with Catherine Snyder, who has just joined the Board of the Witherspoon Society. She serves as a campus minister at Virginia Tech, where 32 students were gunned down last April. She wrote this response:

Dear Doug,

Thank you for calling Tim Rutten's piece "'Prayers' just won't do" to my attention. I hope you will share it with as many people as you can. As a minister, I confess my sadness that the most faithful and courageous responses I have seen since April 16 have come from the secular press. Churches seem to be as afraid as our politicians when it comes to expressing outrage over these preventable tragedies. It is shameful how we tolerate this violence and do so little to change the laws that would make such a difference in this country. We are not powerless, though we act so.

Grace and peace,
Catherine

She suggested these articles, too:

	Had enough gun violence? We can't let the NRA block sensible gun-control laws. From the Christian Science Monitor, Feb. 20, 2008
	Packing Heat in the Parks. A New York Times editorial, Feb. 20, 2008

It begins: “A sound and bipartisan public lands bill is being held up in the Senate in behalf of the gun lobby’s attempt to overturn decades-old safety regulations barring people from carrying loaded guns in national parks.”

“Shootings,” a moving essay written by Adam Gopnik right after the killings, in The New Yorker, April 30, 2007

Can gun control get a hearing now? [4-27-07]

The killings at Virginia Tech have raised the question of limiting access to firearms with new urgency – and poignancy.

Christians and gun control: An idea whose time has come?

Dr. Ben Witherington, professor of New Testament at conservative Asbury Theological Seminary, takes on the question. He writes:

Where is the moral outrage about the ability of even mentally whacked out people to buy guns in this country? You heard none of the potential Presidential candidates saying anything about the need for tighter gun control laws last week. ... It is interesting to me that even most American Christians, when they discuss these things, discuss them in terms of their Constitutional rights to bear firearms. They don’t ask whether the New Testament might have anything to say about Christian conduct in this regard. ... [Are there] ethical teachings in the New Testament that have a bearing as to whether Christians, as private citizens, should be bearing arms? Well yes, in fact there are texts to consider. ...

The rest of his blog, and many interesting responses >.

.... and from The Thoughtful Christian ...

The excellent PC(USA) adult study resource series, The Thoughtful Christian, includes on booklet entitled Gun Control: Is There a Christian Response? It’s a 1-session study and is available online >>

Have you seen other good resources for this discussion,
or can you contribute some thoughts or questions of your own?
Just send a note,
to be shared here.

Over 300 national, state, and local groups call for swift passage of S. 767, The Gun Show Background Check of 2001

from the Presbyterian Washington Office

[posted here on 2-6-02]

January 29, 2002

Senator's Name
Office Number and Building
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senator [Last Name]:

The undersigned organizations, representing a broad array of law enforcement, gun violence prevention, public health, consumer, faith-based, domestic violence, education, child advocacy, civil rights, and victim's rights organizations, are writing in strong support of S. 767, the Gun Show Background Check Act of 2001.

We support this bipartisan legislation to ensure that all firearm sales at gun shows are treated equally. Introduced by Senator Jack Reed and co-sponsored by 22 Senators, S. 767 simply extends the Brady law to all firearms sales at gun shows to help prevent juveniles, criminals, domestic violence offenders, and other prohibited purchasers from buying firearms. This bill is identical to the Lautenberg amendment, which passed the Senate in 1999 in the wake of the tragedy at Columbine.

Please help close this dangerous loophole and make certain that law enforcement has the time and tools necessary to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and away from children. Listed below are the national organizations and some of the local groups in [State], including [List all state orgs in BOLD], calling for passage of S. 767. We ask that you support Senator Reed's bill and urge the Senate leadership to bring S. 767 to a vote.

Thank you for your attention to this important issue.

Sincerely,

National Organizations

American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

American Academy of Pediatrics

American Association of Suicidology

American College of Nurse-Midwives

American College of Preventive Medicine

American Counseling Association

American Ethical Union

American Federation of Teachers

American Medical Association

American Medical Students Association

American Medical Women's Association

American Psychiatric Association

American Public Health Association Association of Clinicians for the Underserved

Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses

Brady Campaign and Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence

Center for Youth as Resources

Central Conference of American Rabbis

Child Welfare League of America

Children's Defense Fund

Church of the Brethren

Coalition to Stop Gun Violence

Consumer Federation of America

Doctors Against Handgun Injury

Family Violence Prevention Fund

Friends Committee on National Legislation (Quaker)

Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America

Hispanic American Police Command Officers Association

Jewish Council for Public Affairs

Jewish Women International

Joint Action Committee (JAC)

Justice Policy Institute

Lutheran Office for Governmental Affairs, ELCA

Major Cities Chiefs Association

Mennonite Central Committee US, Washington Office Million Mom March

Mothers Against Violence in America

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)

National Association of County and City Health Officials

National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners

National Association of School Psychologists

National Association of School Resource Officers

National Black Police Association

National Coalition Against Domestic Violence

National Consortium for African American Children

National Council of Jewish Women, Inc.

National Education Association

National Medical Association

National Network for Youth

National Network to End Domestic Violence

National Partnership for Women & Families

National Troopers Coalition

National Women's Health Network

National Women's Law Center

Physicians for Social Responsibility

Physicians for a Violence-Free Society

Police Foundation

Presbyterian Washington Office, PC (USA)

School Social Work Association of America

Society for Adolescent Medicine

Society for Public Health Education

The Consumer Alliance

Trauma Foundation

Union of American Hebrew Congregations

Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations

United Church of Christ, Justice and Witness Ministries

Violence Policy Center

Women of Reform Judaism

YWCA of the U.S.A.