Guns and the church's moral duty

By Vicki Gray, January 28, 2011

[Episcopal News Service] Once I was a Foreign Service officer, a political officer trained to look at a host society and try to understand what makes it tick.

After many years spent living abroad, I've become accustomed to looking at my own country in much the same way: as an outside observer, seeking to make sense of an often-jumbled mosaic. And one thing I've always stumbled over -- that makes no sense to me -- is America's obsession with guns and our inability reasonably to regulate their possession.

How can one make sense of such inaction in a country where there are 90 guns for every 100 people -- man, woman, or child -- our nearest competitors being Yemen, a country afflicted by tribal strife and occupied in part by al Qaeda (61 guns per 100), and Switzerland, where every adult male is required by law to own a rifle as part of a well-regulated national militia (46 per 100)? Why do we tolerate more gun deaths every week on our city streets than on the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq combined? How do we explain an annual rate of gun deaths 20 times higher than in any other industrialized democracy?

To read the balance of this article go to: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80050_126774_ENG_HTM.htm

Guns and responsibility

Since the 60s I have wondered about the insane lack of gun control in this country. The killing goes on, the NRA keeps buying legislators and the killing goes on. Public figures are shot the question is asked about lax gun laws and the killing goes on. Ordinary citizens continue to be slaughtered including children many people wonder about lax gun laws, and the killing goes on. Even the Supreme Court, men and women whose very profession should make them familiar with the English language and US history, are unable to read the Constitution in context of both language and history; they arrive at decisions that increase the possibility that laws will become even more lax, and the killing goes on.

Eugene Robinson makes valid points about this issue in his editorial that follows. Consider clicking on the link about "lax gun laws" embedded in his writing. Perhaps you would like to also go to the Brady web site to hear some ideas that counter the propaganda of the NRA. The web address is: http://www.bradycampaign.org/

Guns and responsibility

By Eugene Robinson

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

We may not be sure that the bloodbath in Tucson had anything to do with politics, but we know it had everything to do with our nation's insane refusal to impose reasonable controls on guns.

Specifically, the rampage had everything to do with a 9mm semiautomatic Glock pistol - a sleek, efficient killing machine that our lax gun laws allowed an unstable young man to purchase, carry anywhere and ultimately use to shoot Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in the head. The weapon also was used to shoot 19 bystanders, killing six of them, including a federal judge and a 9-year-old girl.

Read the balance of Eugene Robinson's opinion piece by going to: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/10/AR2011011004763.html?nav=hcmoduletmv

If you clicked on the "lax gun laws" link in the article you may have been as incredulous as I was to read the line that quoted the NRA as saying, "Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims of this senseless tragedy," it said. "We join the rest of the country in praying for the quick recovery of those injured."

“Guns aren’t fun”

This appeared in an E-mail from the Episcopal Peace Fellowship. (The title of this post came from a quote by an enlisted Specialist who was drafted into the Army in the '60s and worked as a Social Work Specialist. He was a large sized individual and had worked as a Santa Clause during Christmas in a department store. The story he related was that when ever a child would ask for a toy gun for Christmas he would soon have him and other children chanting, "Guns aren't fun." This is an example of a creative way of being a peace maker.)

About the GUNS

This week there has been very little mention of GUNS: the role of guns in the numerous mass killings in the past decade. Newspapers around the country reflect an assumption that nothing will be done to curb gun violence...gun control advocates are mocked. It is true in the past decade the NRA has succeeded in derailing legislation to reduce gun violence. However, as Rachel Maddow pointed out this week, in 1986 and 1988, while Ronald Reagan, was president three very important bills were passed reducing the threat of gun violence (no plastic guns, no cop killer bullets and no machine guns for personal use).

Action we can take now:
Representative Carolyn McCarthy
has promised to introduce a bill that targets the high-capacity ammunition clip used in the Jan. 8 shooting. Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) said that he is preparing a similar bill for the Senate. In a written statement, Lautenberg said that the high-ammunition clips should "not be on the market" because the only reason people purchase them is "to kill a lot of people very quickly."

(politico.com). Please Contact your Congressional Representatives and let them know what you think.

Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence

Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence

Today in the mail I received a letter from the National Rifle Association of America asking me to sign a petition that would encourage "my elected representative" not to support any "...registration...regulation...or law..." that would in any way restrict an individual's ability to purchase a gun. This request and everything that the NRA stands for is the complete enthuses of what I have felt is the proper way to control gun violence in the United States. This is not a new stand for me I have held this belief since the 1960s.

The letter says in part:
"Because gun-ban extremists like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senators Charles Schumer, and Dianne Feinstein, Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stand ready to fight for a far-reaching, anti-gun, anti-freedom agenda that will:
Require you to apply for a Federal license before you can possess any handgun or semi-automatic rifle or shotgun that can accept a detachable magazine.
Force you to register, be fingerprinted, and photographed, and take a written test on gun safety, gun storage, gun laws...
Demand that you give the Attorney General a full release to look at your mental health records before you can buy a gun."
There are other words also in bold face such as Ban, Close, and Send designed to scare gun owners.
I'm not sure that the people named have suggested any of these measures (I would support both them and the measures if they did)the purpose is only to scare people into joining the NRA. By the way I think that I failed to mention that Mr. Wayn LaPierre will let you join the NRA for the small amount of $25 to $70 a savings of $10 to $15. For this sum you also get a neat duffel bag, a membership card, a decal, and other perks. There was no mention however of the secret decoder ring.
A far better and saner organization to support is the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. There is a video clip at the top of this rant that, if you haven't already looked at it, you might find informative. And if sanity appeals to you go to the Brady site.

From the Brady site:
"As the nation's largest, non-partisan, grassroots organization leading the fight to prevent gun violence, the Brady Campaign, with its dedicated network of Million Mom March Chapters, works to enact and enforce sensible gun laws, regulations and public policies. The Brady Campaign is devoted to creating an America free from gun violence, where all Americans are safe at home, at school, at work, and in our communities.

For continuing insight and comment on the gun issue, read Paul Helmke's blog at www.bradycampaign.org/blog/. Visit the Brady Campaign website at www.bradycampaign.org."

More Gun Violence

Here we go again. It is 5:55 PM and I just returned home, turned on CNN to see what is happening in the world and a story about gun violence greets me. Three people at the University of Georgia have been killed at a gathering of the "Town and Gown" community theater group. Who is suspected of doing this? Someone who is mentally ill. An individual who is involved in the drug trade. A criminal who lost his temper and "capped" some one he didn't like. No the person suspected of killing these individuals is a respected member of the faculty at the University. A law abiding citizen. How often have we heard the refrain that goes something like, "When lawabiding citizens can't get guns; only criminals will have guns." The man who is suspected of this crime would be considered a "law abiding citizen" any where in this country as a member of a university faculty; yet it seems that he may be responsible for creating the latest victims in this country's decade long carnage caused by guns.

How long will it be before we have reasonable gun laws in this country? How many people have to die before, as a country, we realize that no one needs to own a military style weapon such as an AK-47 or an AR15. No one except the military and the police. No one needs to own a pistol again except the military and the police. I know that these obviously sensible observations will drive those in the gun lobby crazy because they are afraid that they may loose their toys. To think that losing those toys is more important than peoples lives is, perhaps, one of the most immoral concepts one can have.

To defend their "right" to own these types of weapons the gun lover will say that he/she has to have them to protect themselves. I would suggest to those who feel that they need this protection that they ask their pastor or priest where their real security lies. I suspect the she/he will have a different answer for them. Their answer might be something like:

Protect me Lord God!

I run to you for safety,

and I have said, 'Only you are my Lord!

Every good thing I have

is a gift from you."

You, Lord, are all I want!

You are my choice,

and you keep me safe.

Psalm 16: 1, 2, 5 (CVE)

Had enough gun violence? | csmonitor.com

There is an editorial from the Christian Science Monitor at the bottom of this post entitled "Had enough gun violence?" printed in February of 2008. Click on the link to read the article.

The problem of gun violence is an unending problem that has been with us for decades. Much of what the author says has been said before and gun control advocates may be only shouting into the wind, given the money behind the NRA from the gun industry, but how can people in good conscience who abhor violence do otherwise. For that matter, how can Christians keep silent? When Jesus said, "blessed are the peacemakers" he wasn't referring to the western six shooter made famous in 1950s shoot-um-up cowboy movies. As you read the article consider what the author says about the gun laws in Mass. and the futility of that state's strong gun laws because of the lax gun laws of several other New England sates that feed guns into Mass. The answer is, of course, strict nationwide gun laws. But if this obvious solution is suggested to the NRA or any other gun lover it is prudent to have a defibrillator available. They can not fathom having their toys taken away.

I'll be posting another article from the New York Times Op-Ed page shortly. The author sites statistics to support his position and as a result also make a strong case against gun violence. Having said this it seems incomprehensible that anyone could be FOR gun violence; but advocating against strong, appropriate gun legislation is advocating FOR gun violence.
Had enough gun violence? csmonitor.com

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