July 26, 2022 | "Transformed Lives Transform Lives" |
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From the Baltimore-Washington Conference Advocacy and Action Ministry
As of July 2022, our nation has been traumatized by 332 mass shootings. Bishop LaTrelle Easterling has released a number of statements as these shootings have continually unfolded in places like Smithsburg, MD, Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, NY. We mourn, grieve, and to pray for those who have lost their lives and now we must engage in concrete actions to stop preventable gun violence.
What Does the Church Say?
As United Methodists, we follow Jesus who commissions us to be peacemakers (Matthew 5:9 NRSV). This identity holds us in relationship with God and echoes God’s dream for peace for all people so that no one needs to live in fear of violence.
Scripture passages like that in Micah 4:2-4 inspire our 2016 United Methodist Resolution to end gun violence, which lifts up the understanding that violence, in so many ways, is fueled by a culture of misplaced fear and a distorted desire for self-preservation.
The biblical “swords” and “spears” in the Bible today takes the form of gun violence. Random mass murders are committed by enraged and distraught individuals; persons use guns to kill and to terrorize others who are culturally, ethnically, racially, and socially different; guns are used in hate crimes aimed at terrorizing entire groups; domestic and intimate partner aggression and other crimes are complicated by access to guns; and tragically, suicide and self-harm are further escalated because of access to guns.
Unaddressed gun violence escalates every other form of violence in our families and neighborhoods.
Congregations Called to Take Action
We call on congregations to prayerfully address gun violence in their own local contexts. To live in God’s presence means that we must learn how to practice peace together by rejecting the presumed inevitability of gun violence and bloodshed.
2. Stand with survivors and their families by providing financial support, pastoral care, and creating a safe space for those impacted to share their stories; join families and community members as they walk through the process of grieving and recovery. Pray for those who’ve perpetuated this violence and their families. Offer resources for these families to receive the support needed.
3. 2016 UM Resolution (3428) on Gun Violence provides specific ways for us to take action on safe storage of firearms; invites us to partner with ecumenical and law enforcement efforts in our community, and advocates for realistic legislation that will reduce gun violence.
- An estimated 4,600,000 minors in the United States live in homes with at least one unsecured firearm.
- Seventy-three percent of children under the age of 10 living in homes with firearms reported knowing the location of their parents’ firearms.
- Thirty-six percent of those children reported handling their parents’ unsecured firearms. The presence of unsecured firearms in the home increases the risk of unintentional and intentional shootings.
- Over 75 percent of firearms used in youth suicide attempts and unintentional firearm injuries were stored in the residence of the victim, a relative, or a friend.
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To learn more watch our recent BWC webinar “Safe Firearm Storage Saves Lives.”
Ethan Song and his friend died in a neighbor’s home where a firearm was not properly stored. Both children had played with unsecured guns hoping to make a Tik-Tok video. The owner of the gun was not held liable. According to the family’s memorial page for Ethan, “handguns were often not secured or locked up in this home. A rifle was frequently stored in the front hall closet. According to police reports, kids pulled the trigger of the rifle on at least one occasion. Young people were able to access weapons for months, even when a parent was in the home.”
As a matter of faith and conscience, we ask Congress to pass, and President Biden to sign, Ethan’s Law (H.R. 748) law so that we have storage requirements of firearms within residences at the federal, state, and tribal levels if a minor under the age of 18 is able to access the firearm without permission, or if a resident within the household is ineligible to possess the firearm.
- While other types of guns have been used in past shootings, AR-15-style rifles are known for their ability to automatically reload and lack of recoil, making it easier for a shooter to take multiple targeted shots.
- AR-15-style firearms are the weapon of choice for shooters looking to kill as many people as possible as quickly as possible and have been used in the deadliest mass shootings in our history, from Sandy Hook to Parkland to Uvalde.
- If we still had a federal Assault Weapons Ban, we would see 70 percent fewer mass shooting deaths.
The Assault Weapon Ban of 2021 (H.R. 1801) cosponsored by 211 Members of the House, would ban the sale, import, manufacture or transfer of certain semi-automatic weapons.
This will make it illegal to import, sell, manufacture, transfer, or possess a semi-automatic assault weapon (SAW) or any large-capacity ammunition feeding device (LCAFD). It would make it unlawful for a person to import, sell, manufacture, or transfer the following: All semi-automatic rifles that can accept a detachable magazine and have at least one of the following military features. Bump fire stocks and any part, combination of parts, component, device, attachment, or accessory that is designed or functions to accelerate the rate of fire of a semi-automatic rifle but not convert the semi-automatic rifle into a machine gun.
As a matter of conscience and faith tell Congress and the President that you support The Assault Weapon Ban of 2021 (H.R. 1801) and we recommit ourselves to stand against the epidemic of gun violence so that assault weapons of terror will not take the life of one more precious child of God.
In 2021, clergy and lay members of the Baltimore-Washington Conference declared gun violence a public health emergency and called on every congregation to begin to have conversations and take steps to end it. These legislative actions are an important step in that process.
Take Action In the Public Square
As United Methodists, we join thousands of people of faith to advocate on two pieces of national legislation.
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Submissions?
Melissa Lauber, Director of Communications
11711 East Market Place, Fulton, MD 20759
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