Lowering Gun Violence
Every morning I wake up and check the online news for the overnight shootings in New Orleans, Louisiana, where I have just begun a two-year pastoral residency with St. Charles Avenue Presbyterian Church.
The church itself is fragrant with green and white flowers, surrounded by old historic mansions. Wrought iron fences and private security systems create the illusion of overarching and expanded security that touches all the New Orleanian wards. It would be so easy for me to simply … stop checking the news each morning, but I can’t.
This week alone:
Eight women shot in six weeks in lower income neighborhoods, mere miles away.
A late night shooting in a bar on Bourbon Street.
A 10am murder in the Aurora neighborhood.
*Nola.com has created a murder map, for those seeking to learn more about gun violence in our city.
And these are the stories that made the news circuit. So many others never do. I’ve only been here mere weeks, but my collection of gun violence related stories are ever growing. There are stories of hold ups coming home from bars, murders during soccer pick-up matches, retaliation hits on innocent loved ones. We’re 23% down from the homicide total of 2022, but watch the news warily.
And I feel so angry and helpless as I read. It’s a reasonable response. Gun related news stories roll around like dice on a gaming table, not just in New Orleans but across the country. In response, we see gun sales increase along with the likelihood that each of us will have memories associated with guns embedded in our narratives, shaping our views, and massaging out our own strange associations with the weapons.
Currently, we are witnessing the flourishing NRA-supported gun-safety laws in the form of increased gun presence in United States schools as a countermeasure to the rising gun attacks.
This is playing out firsthand in the Texas as Gov. Greg Abbott is currently convening a special session with a myriad of items, two of which regard the addition of $1.4 billion to make Texas schools safer by requiring armed security at all schools. In the aftermath of the Uvalde slaughter, this is the chosen response of elected officials.
One only must walk through Walmart’s back to school section and spy the bulletproof backpack section to understand that fear sells. In fact, fear is a big business. According to Forbes, America’s gun business is a $28 billion dollar business.
There are gun carry kits that look like Bibles. Yes, you read that correctly.
Pink guns, for the more feminine types.
Themed guns- whatever theme you want! Nightmare before Christmas gun? Done. Zebra print- done. Camo- 60,000 different versions! Want a panic shelter? That’s $11,789 plus tax. Or, if budget allows, perhaps you’d like a customized bunker built into the foundation of your home.
So, what can our beloved faith community do?
There is one great acidic dissolvement for fear: curiosity. Exercising curiosity is a fundamental principle of our Reformed theologies. We love 11th-century bishop Anselm’s quote, “faith seeking understanding.” We love the Daniel Migliore's seminal text with the same title. How can our faith seek understanding in a war-zone-like case such as gun violence? How can we convince others to join in the conversation?
As theologians, pastors, Christians and Presbyterians, we must understand the why, before we get to the how. Why are people shooting their weapons more and more?
If you ask me, we’re seeing these increases because: 1) increased (and warranted) fear levels, 2) increasing gun ownership numbers, 3) decreasing mental health resources and 4) decreasing physical community social structures and increasing isolation.
So, now that we have this brief study in politics laid out; we are left with the lingering question of “so what can we do?” As religious leaders, our armory consists of theologies and community building.
How can we make the United States safer from gun violence?
Here are a few ideas:
1) Peace begins at home. Ensure that the homes your children visit are gun-free or that any weapons are safely secured. Teach your children basic gun safety so that they will know the dangers of guns. Teach them to not touch a weapon they find. If you are a gun owner, ensure your guns are safely stored. Destigmatize conversations around gun safety. If you are able to speak about gun safety, you will also be able to build a bridge to NRA members.
2) Hold community conversations around gun violence. You can work with organizations such as Guns to Gardens, utilize film and video resources and toolkits online such as (Odyssey Impact/ Second Shot/ We are Newton: find resources here: https://www.odyssey-impact.org/our-campaigns/waan/_) and https://www.odyssey-impact.org/our-campaigns/second-shot/ . Some companies will charge for screenings, others offer screenings free of charge with links available online and free downloadable conversation toolkits. Welcome various perspectives and remember that change takes times.
3) Become an advocate for gun safety focused legislation in your area and plug into movements for gun safety. Learn about your faith tradition’s practices of peace. Research gun violence. The more knowledgeable you are, the better you can connect resources, build trust and be seen as a community advocate. Speak not only to your church, but also to your judiciaries as a representative of your faith.
4) Lea Schweitz of Odyssey Impact, a film organization that uses media to inform social justice conversations in faith communities, suggests faith communities use the pulpit, or your social media and speak to your communities on gun violence prevention. Some scriptural references used for influence can come from : Matthew 26:52-54, Ecclesiastes 9:18, 1 Samuel 13:22-23, Luke 11:21-22. Even if one listener feels the nudge to simply purchase a gun-safe and begin locking up their guns at home, that contributes to the overall safety of the community.
5) Bobby Watson, Human Rights Fellow of Texas Impact, an interfaith public policy organization out of Austin, Texas brings up the importance of seeing the purple in the issue and also in the demographics of worshipers Sunday mornings saying “I think the idea of responsibility with gun ownership is a good way to engage that space and something that several faith leaders from our membership (Texas Impact) have utilized when they have talked about the issue. It opens a place to talk about what responsibility your right to arms comes with and how we can legislate to encourage responsible and safe gun ownership.”
Here are some great additional educational resources for those hoping to learn more:
· Everytown for Gun Safety: https://www.everytown.org/issues/guns-in-schools/
· Sandy Hook Promise: https://www.sandyhookpromise.org
· Giffords: https://giffords.org
· Moms Demand Action: https://momsdemandaction.org
· Brady: https://www.bradyunited.org
· Religious Action Center: https://rac.org/issues/gun-violence-prevention/interfaith-initiative-against-gun-violence
· Interfaith Alliance: https://interfaithalliance.org/combating-hate-requires-action-to-prevent-gun-violence/