Letter to Editor: Morristown councilwoman asks Governor to extend diet to guns

Ed. note: The opinions here are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the views of this publication.

Diets Save Lives

There’s been plenty of speculation about Governor Christie’s choice to have gastric band surgery.  Come on, he’s a father of young children — he deserves as many healthy years as possible with his kids.

In that same spirit, Governor Christie could ask the NJ Senate President to put gun magazines on a diet.

Ten bullets per magazine should be ample.  It took the horror of the Sandy Hook School shooting for Connecticut to change its laws. Maryland and New York have followed suit.

Fewer bullets mean more chances to stop someone from taking lives.  What is New Jersey waiting for?

Rebecca Feldman

Morristown Councilwoman (IND)
Co-founder, Morris Area Committee to Reduce Gun Violence

Morristown group to mark Newtown anniversary with empty shoes, April 14

Pedestrians visiting South Street on April 14 will find 68 pairs of empty shoes.

The Morris Area Committee to Reduce Gun Violence will mark the four-month anniversary of the Newtown, CT, massacre by displaying the shoes– one pair for every New Jersey resident shot dead since the Connecticut tragedy, said Morristown Councilwoman Rebecca Feldman, co-founder of the Morris committee.

Look for the display between 9 am and 1 pm on Sunday, near the intersection of South Street and Miller Road.

“This is a call to action,” Rebecca said. “We’re looking for our state and national representatives to adopt common-sense legislation.”

Votes on gun laws are scheduled next week in the Senate–at both the state and national levels, she said.

The shoes are a traveling exhibit organized by Moms Demand Action, the Million Moms March and Cease-Fire New Jersey, Rebecca said.

Recent events in Greater Morristown have included a presentation by a Virginia Tech shooting survivor, talks by residents of Newtown, a stop by Washington-bound cyclists from Newtown, communal artworks for families of victims, and solidarity banners organized by area clergy.

Video: Colin Goddard, shot four times at Virginia Tech, urges Morris Township crowd to press for gun reforms

By Marie Pfeifer

Colin Goddard purchased the same kind of gun, at a gun show, that shot him four times at Virginia Tech in 2007.

No background check was performed.

Why is that legal?

That’s the central question of Living for 32, a documentary about the massacre that traces Goddard’s story. He spoke on Saturday after a screening at the Morristown Unitarian Fellowship in Morris Township.

The film’s title refers to the number of people slain by a deranged student on that fateful April morning six years ago. It also corresponds to the average number of Americans killed by guns every day.

Goddard’s French teacher and several classmates were among the victims. In the documentary–and in our video interview above–Goddard describes the terror he experienced, and the eerie feeling of returning to Norris Hall after the bullet-riddled walls had been plugged.

Now fully recovered, the athletic 24-year-old lobbies for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. As assistant director for federal legislation, he is striving for stricter background checks for gun purchases.

Goddard encouraged everyone at Saturday’s screening to call their elected leaders in Washington on Tuesday, April 9, as part of a national campaign to close the loophole on background checks.

December’s massacre of schoolchildren and teachers in Newtown, CT, was a “tipping point” for many, he said.

An armed citizenry is not the answer, he added.

“More guns only create more violence.”

The former ROTC student also supports strict limits on the size of ammunition magazines. A few Virginia Tech students escaped while Seung-Hui Cho re-loaded his weapon, Goddard said. Larger clips enable shooters to kill more people before reloading.

‘Living for 32′:Shooting survivor Colin Goddard in Morris Township

VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS:

0:55 About the movie title.

1:15: Every day 32 Americans murdered with guns; 80 counting suicides and accidents

1:44: ‘There’s a Virginia Tech every day.’

2:23: Rather than let tragedy define you, be defined by ‘how you choose to get up, and move forward.’

2:40: Promote idea: Background checks before selling gun to anyone.

2:52: The 1994 Brady Bill has blocked two million gun sales.

3:47: Virginia Tech: A record not sent to the right place.

3:53: ‘Guy who shot me was told to get outpatient therapy, not in-patient…’

4:18: When learned that, ‘pretty shocked.’

4:22: States must enter more missing records into system.

5:00: Need background checks on all gun sales, not just some.

5:17: ‘Why is it legal for me to give $500 to a stranger, walk out with gun?’

6:11: Made film to have conversation about this.

6:32: Outrage fades after mass shootings.

6:45: Cannot let things fade this time…Newtown a tipping point for many.

6:49: Binghamton shootings personal tipping point…police, candles, tears.

7:25: Background checks make most sense for most people, most support in Congress.

7:51: Lowest-hanging fruit…will make biggest impact.

8:20: Not seeking sympathy; seeks help. Can’t do this alone.

8:57: Other issues make sense; need to focus on this now.

9:02: Hopes to make loss less likely for other families.

OUT-PATIENT LOOPHOLE

Goddard managed to call 911 before the gunman broke into the classroom. He was shot while laying on the floor of his French class. The gunman attacked him twice, before killing himself.

Police needed help to enter the room because so many bodies were piled against the door, Goddard said.

He re-lives his painful story, he said, to put a face on our “woefully inadequate gun laws.” If the gun lobby could hear the horrible screams of victims as the shots ring out, he believes they would feel differently about stricter laws. Law-abiding gun owners are the Brady Campaign’s biggest potential allies, he said.

Goddard convinced the Brady Campaign to allow him to go undercover, wearing a hidden camera, to buy guns at gun shows. He purchased weapons without undergoing a background check or presenting a driver’s license.

Only licensed dealers are required by law to perform background checks on buyers, while private sellers can make gun-show sales without making checks.

A loophole enabled Seung-Hui Cho to obtain his semiautomatic handguns. His mental illness never was reported to a national system that would have precluded his purchases. That’s because he was an outpatient. Had he been an inpatient, reporting would have been mandatory, Goddard said.

The Rev. Alison Miller welcomed several dozen visitors to Saturday’s screening. Guests included Morristown Councilwoman Rebecca Feldman and Pam Hasegawa, co-founders of the Morris Area Committee to Reduce Gun Violence, and Morristown Police Chief Pete Demnitz.

Critically acclaimed at Sundance and other film festivals, Living for 32 can be seen for free at Princeton University on April 24, and at Seton Hall University on April 25. For details, contact the New Jersey chapter of the Million Moms March at 609-882-3711 or mercemmm@gmail.com.

Carole Stiller, president of the Million Moms state organization, urged citizens to call their senators and representatives on Tuesday. Phone numbers are listed at FaithsCalling.org.

Trailer for ‘Living for 32′

Virginia Tech shooting survivor to speak at film screening in Morris Township

Colin Goddard was one of the lucky ones.

He took four bullets during the 2007 Virgina Tech shootings, yet survived. Thirty-two other students were not so fortunate.

On Saturday, April 6, Colin will field questions about that tragic day at the Morristown Unitarian Fellowship, after a screening of the 40-minute film, Living for 32.  The movie was an official selection of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.

Since the shootings, Colin has advocated for legislation to protect the public from gun violence.

Saturday’s program starts at 7:30 pm and it’s free, but please RSVP to: PreventGunViolence2013@gmail.com. The Fellowship is at 21 Normandy Heights Road in Morris Township.  For more details see the Fellowship website or call (973) 809-6628.

 

Video: ‘Team 26′ rolls through Morristown en route from Newtown to DC, with gun control message

“Team 26,” which is scheduled to arrive in Washington DC today, March 12, cycled through Morristown on Sunday on its four-day journey from Newtown, CT.

Three months after 26 children and teachers were shot dead at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, the bikers plan to take their demand for tougher gun laws to Congress.

In this video, Monte Frank of Newtown explains that his neighbors don’t want their town known as the place that “didn’t do anything” after the unspeakable tragedy of Dec. 14, 2012.

Morristown Councilwoman Rebecca Feldman, a co-founder of the Morris Area Committee to Reduce Gun Violence, invited the cyclists to loop the historic Green.

Mayor Tim Dougherty and Councilwoman Toshiba Foster were among the welcoming group that came out on the frosty morning.

A day earlier, three Newtown residents addressed a gathering at the Presbyterian Church in Morristown to urge support for “common-sense” measures to prevent gun violence. Stay tuned for more video from that event.  Here is a clip of local high school girls singing My Beautiful Town on Saturday.

MORE COVERAGE:

VIDEO: Newtown comes to Morristown for the ‘Sandy Hook Promise’

VIDEO: ‘My Beautiful Town’ sung in Morristown to honor Newtown victims

Morristown commentary: The Second Amendment and treason

Editor’s note: The opinions represented here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of MorristownGreen.com. And…

By Paul Bangiola

If you want an eye-opening peek into the dark world of a small but scary percentage of the population, try writing a column in favor of requiring universal background checks prior to all gun sales.

I did (“Shooting Holes in the Second Amendment”),  and the comments were both frightening and pathetic.

I thought I had found a standard everyone could accept when I  relied upon the opinion of that famous liberal, Justice Antonin Scalia, who wrote the opinion in District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (2008), which was decided by a 6-3 majority.

The Heller case upheld the Second Amendment right to possess a handgun, rifle or shotgun for self- protection and overturned the District’s outright ban on handguns.

So to all you NRA drones out there under the spell of words like “confiscation,” regarding handguns and other guns used for self-defense, hunting  and target shooting, at least,  it is now settled law. Confiscation of these weapons is unconstitutional. We are a nation of laws, and the highest authority has spoken.

But the Second Amendment does have limits. Automatic weapons have been illegal since the 1930s. Silencers are also illegal. Some regulations of guns are constitutionally permissible.

As Justice Scalia  wrote:

Like most rights, the Second Amendment right is not unlimited. It is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose: For example, concealed weapons prohibitions have been upheld under the Amendment or state analogues. The Court’s opinion should not be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms…the sorts of weapons protected are those ‘in common use at the time’ finds support in the historical tradition of prohibiting the carrying of dangerous and unusual weapons. Pp. 54–56.

But make no mistake, the true extremists are out there, and they live in an echo chamber, armed not just with real guns, to which they often allude in argument, but with cut-and-pasted quotes they share, as if in call and response, across the internet to and from the paranoid, alienated, and perhaps, the disassociated.

They live in a toxic mental stew of NRA propaganda, lies, misinformation, Fox News partisanship, and adolescent messianic fantasies. They are, lamentably and predictably, almost universally male.  And, oh, yeah, they are humorless, menacing bullies.

This crew sneers at those who think the Second Amendment protects self-defense, hunting and shooting sports, but not armed rebellion by an “army of one.” They think it protects treason. Many talk about tyranny and the passage of Obamacare as equivalents. Let’s try and ignore those sporting facial hair like ZZ-Top, who think the “South is Gonna Do it Again,” and call the Civil War “the War of Northern Aggression.”

There are those gun advocates who see this debate as a call to arms, who live in a country they think will soon have to be rescued, whether the rest of us want rescuing or not.

They are a subculture and speak a special language of catch phrases and, now and then, a little Greek or Latin, to lend  some gravitas and mystery,  a creepy wink that only members of the tribe are supposed to understand.

The complexity of the code, fortunately is at the same level as a decoder ring from a cereal box.  There are “Threepers” (like the three percent of the population they claim actually fought in the Revolutionary War, the true Americans–get it?), who spout phrases like “Molon Labe” (ancient Greek for “come and take”) and “from my cold dead hands.”

They see conspiracies everywhere, from Ruby Ridge and Waco to a picture of the President skeet-shooting. They are constantly scanning the horizon for Blackhawk helicopters coming to confiscate their guns.  Then things will really get exciting!  And they can hardly wait.

This group is so hot on the idea of saving the country from itself that they are willing to tolerate an “any gun for anyone” system. They are Second Amendment absolutists.

Now, when a liberal Democrat like me says something supportive of universal background checks, the whole hive of crazies buzzes with the alarm. First out of the gate, the standard tried-and-true responses: “Marxist! Socialist! Statist!”

Then come the selective quotes from the founding fathers and cut-and-pasted references to case law. It is pretty clear that most people haven’t read the texts they are citing, or the cases they cite.

Then, following at the back of the circus, come the big guns: “Nazi!”

And even: “Holocaust denier.” (I am not kidding). Comparing supporters of gun control to Nazis is both wildly, historically inaccurate and profoundly disrespectful of the Nazis’s victims.  But don’t expect this bunch to lose much sleep over inaccurate facts–they have an agenda to serve.

The time is long past time for everyone in a position of responsibility, regardless of party, to set some boundaries, and denounce extremists advocating preparation for treason. Language is important and these words, cast into the ether, may have consequences, which we will only truly realize when the next deluded crazy decides he is an army of one.

The time has come for all public officials to follow the lead of President George H.W. Bush, who resigned from the NRA when Wayne LaPierre referred to ATF agents as “jack- booted thugs.”

No Wayne, talking about tyranny, and lying about confiscation to gin up support and gun sales, is not OK. Let’s stick to the argument and you can make your case. Then all of the people, not three percent, but all of the people, will let us know.

Paul M. Bangiola, Esq., is a Morristown lawyer, former municipal prosecutor, former Morris County Democratic Chairman, a 2000 New Jersey Presidential Elector, and a campaign adviser. 

MORE COLUMNS BY PAUL BANGIOLA

Video: Valentine’s Vigil and rally against gun violence, in Morristown

A large crowd gathered on the Morristown Green for a Valentine’s Day vigil and rally for stricter gun laws in the wake of the Newtown massacre two months earlier.

Above are some video highlights from the event.

MORE COVERAGE:

Morristown rally against gun violence puts Governor, Congress on notice

An MG Kid’s perspective on Morristown rally against gun violence

Morristown rally against gun violence puts Governor, Congress on notice

A big crowd turned out on Valentine’s Night in Morristown to mark the two-month anniversary of the Newtown massacre and demand stricter gun controls.

Morristown Mayor Tim Dougherty came with a letter signed by 33 New Jersey mayors, asking Gov. Christie to take a harder line supporting federal legislation to require criminal background checks for all gun sales and curb access to assault weapons and large ammunition magazines.

“If you need an assault weapon to hunt a deer, maybe hunting isn’t your sport. Maybe you ought to take up golf,” said State Sen. Barbara Buono, Democratic candidate for Governor.

Laughter rippled across the Morristown Green, where people brandished signs and wore home-made paper hearts bearing the names of young shooting victims.

After Thursday’s rally, organizers chided the Governor to do more to prod lawmakers.

“I believe he’ll do what he needs to do to protect his kids,” said Morristown Councilwoman Rebecca Feldman, co-founder of the Morris Area Committee to Reduce Gun Violence, which organized the gathering.

“Gov. Chris Christie has four kids,” added Jamie Bedrin of the New Jersey chapter of One Million Moms for Gun Control. “And I know that they mean a lot to him. And I want to see him take action to protect his kids, and all of the children in the state.”

Photos by Bill Lescohier. Please click icon below for captions.

The Morristown committee formed last month in response to the killing of 26 pupils and staff members at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT, by a deranged 20-year-old last December.

“I’ve spent years in politics in one way or another, as an Independent, and now I look back when Newtown happened and think ‘what have I been doing for the last 10 years?’” said Rebecca Feldman. “The most important thing is that we put politics aside and come up with sensible ways to regulate guns so that fewer people are killed, and fewer children are at risk every day.”

From the podium, the Rev. Alison Miller of the Morristown Unitarian Fellowship recounted the terror of having a burglar aim a gun at her head when she was 4 years old.

The director of the pediatrics emergency room at Morristown Medical Center, Dr. Michael Gerardi, described treating gunshot wounds that he said should be seen only on battlefields.

“Say a prayer tonight, and in the morning, write a letter to your congressman,[and] your senator, and let’s do something about reducing gun violence,” said Pastor Sidney Williams Jr. of Morristown’s Bethel AME Church.

Members of the Bethel AME Youth Choir and the Harmonium Choral Society and Neighborhood House Combined Choirs sang, and the event concluded at dusk with a showing of lit candles.

The turnout thrilled Jamie Bedrin of One Million Moms, who vowed to keep fighting the powerful National Rifle Association.

“We are not going to back down,” Jamie said. “We will approach this in a peaceful and intelligent manner. But enough is enough. I don’t know how many times we have to say it: How many children have to die? Really. How many, before we take a stand?”

Photos by Scott Schlosser. Please click icon below for captions:

An MG Kids perspective on Morristown rally against gun violence

By Carl Hausman, MG Kids correspondent

Two months ago, a tragedy occurred in Newtown, Connecticut. A young man in possession of a gun went through the school, firing. In the process, many students and several teachers were killed. On Valentine’s Day, people from all over New Jersey gathered at a rally at Morristown Green to support changes to our gun laws.

There’s something attracting about the sight of a crowd – people see a few people gathered, they come over to see what it’s all about, then some more people see a fair group of people and get curious, and so on. That’s what happened at the rally. By the time it actually started, there was quite a crowd gathered in the green.

To begin with, there was a singing of the National Anthem. Then, there were a few speeches, honoring those who had died in Newtown and explaining briefly how and why gun laws needed to be changed.

One of the biggest issues seemed to be what sort of guns are sold today. I thought this was summed up perfectly by N.J. Sen. Barbara Buono: “If you need an assault rifle to hunt deer, then maybe hunting isn’t really your sport and you should take up golfing instead.”

 

 

 

 

After the speeches, the youth choir from Bethel AME Church came onto the stage and sang some songs about peace and faith. Then, candles started getting handed out, which were to be lit in the evening.

Unfortunately, I did not get to see the end because my parents had to drag me to an appointment elsewhere. However, I hope this profound event can promote some true change in our society.

 

Carl Hausman, 12, is a member of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Morristown, and a seventh-grader at Mount Olive Middle School in Budd Lake.

Do you like to write or take photographs or videos? MorristownGreen.com welcomes kids of all ages to report on events in their schools and community. Volunteer by contacting MG Kids Editor Sharon Sheridan at MGKids@sharonsheridan.com.

 

Video: Calls from pulpit to join Valentine’s protest against gun violence, Feb. 14 in Morristown

Church and state came together on Sunday with appeals for public support of a Valentine’s Day rally and memorial vigil in Morristown to protest gun violence.

“My prayer on Feb. 14 is that we’ll show some real love, and it won’t be one race, or one this or one that, but we’ll come together and remember the senseless violence [against] every child,” preached Pastor Sidney Williams Jr. of Bethel A.M.E. Church.

The pastor recounted a predominantly black Morristown rally condemning the Florida shooting of Trayvon Martin, and a largely white service mourning the suicide of Morristown High School freshman Lennon Baldwin.

“Death has no race on it. Every mother hurts. Every parent hurts. Every grandparent hurts when a child’s life is taken,” said Pastor Williams, who invited Councilwoman Rebecca Feldman to address the congregation.

The councilwoman co-founded the Morris Area Committee to Reduce Gun Violence, and helped organize the Feb. 14, 2013, rally and candle-light vigil to mark the two-month anniversary of the Newtown, Conn., massacre of schoolchildren and teachers. The committee wants stricter gun controls.

“We hope hundreds will join us at 5 o’clock on the Morristown Green for a rally to call for reductions to gun violence, and also a vigil in memory of all children lost to gun violence,” Rebecca said.

Later in the service the councilwoman collected donations to the committee with Nancy Bangiola, a committee member who also serves as president of the Morris School District board of education and the Morristown & Township Library board.

Berit Ollestad, a MorristownGreen.com contributor who received a church award for her volunteer work, spoke movingly of a charity mission to Brazilian slum, where it took considerable persuasion to coax a child to give up a hand-made fake gun in exchange for a toy.

“It’s so sad, because they really don’t have any opportunities. And they see these 16- and 17-year olds with semi-automatics, and they have jewelry and cell phones… it’s really come full circle,” Berit said.

The Rev. Cynthia Black, rector of Morristown’s Episcopal Church of the Redeemer, followed with a powerful sermon to the joint service.

“Oh, I know. I’m on dangerous ground here, talking about something so political in church. Well I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of hearing on the news that another human being has died…another child of God has died, because we haven’t realized that we regulate cold medicine better than we do guns,” the rector said.

She also recounted the fury of her father, a proud World War II veteran, upon learning that another parent had let her fire a semi-automatic handgun at a private shooting range during a childhood slumber party.

“Guns have only one purpose,” he said. “They kill.”

Here is the full text of Rev. Black’s sermon:

“Remove Our Fear”

A sermon by the Rev. Cynthia L. Black, D.D. The Last Sunday after Epiphany: The Feast of Richard Allen & Absalom Jones. Luke 9: 28 – 43a, Feb. 10, 2013. Bethel A.M.E. Church, Morristown, New Jersey

Heal me, hands of Jesus,
And search out all my pain
Restore my hope
Remove my fear
And bring me peace again.

I don’t know what it is about that song that I love so much, but it touches me deeply… somewhere in my heart. It was a tune that I couldn’t get out of my head when I was in pain and experiencing great fear a couple of years ago after an accident. I sang it over and over again, to calm myself.

I’ve been thinking a lot about gun violence recently… particularly the lives destroyed by it…and wondering why, as a nation, we find ourselves in a place where it is easier to buy a handgun than to register to vote. I’ve been thinking about why it’s easier to buy an assault rifle than to get a driver’s license. I’ve been thinking about why it’s easier to buy a shotgun than to access mental health services. Does any of that make sense?

Oh, I know. I’m on dangerous ground here, talking about something so political in church. Well I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of hearing on the news that another human being has died…another child of God has died, because we haven’t realized that we regulate cold medicine better than we do guns. Do you know how many people—men, women and children, have died as a result of gun violence since the tragedy in Newtown, not quite two months ago? When I started working on this sermon, earlier in the week, I went to slate.com’s website that is tracking gun deaths. From Friday to yesterday, it went from 1633 to 1686.

Heal me, hands of Jesus,
And search out all my pain
Restore my hope
Remove my fear
And bring me peace again.

When I was in the sixth grade I went to my friend Lorraine’s house for a sleepover birthday party. She was turning 12. What I remember of it is that it took place in her family’s rec room in their basement, and that the games we played were a little unusual for pre-teen girls. After a tour of the family fallout shelter (yes, you heard me), we began not “pin the tail on the donkey”, but target practice with some of her father’s handguns.

In addition to a ping pong table and dart board, there was an indoor shooting range in the rec room, and Lorraine’s father taught us how to load handguns, take aim at the paper targets, and fire. What I remember is that I and one other girl were so good at it that Lorraine’s father let us have a special treat– with a few words of instruction, we got to do target practice with one of his semiautomatic weapons. Afterwards, we had cake and ice cream, told ghost stories, and talked late into the night about our crushes on David Cassidy and Michael Jackson, I’m sure.

The next day after I got home I told my parents about the party, proudly relating the part about how I was so good that I got to use the Glock pistol (or whatever it would have been in 1971).

I can honestly say that I have never seen my father as angry as he was that day. To help you understand—my dad was a Republican and a proud WWII army veteran, who was known for always flying an American flag—he was a real patriot. When he got done on the phone with my friend’s father and his ideas about party games for kids, he sat me down for a long talk. He made it clear that he was not angry with me. But he also told me something that was conveyed with such conviction, such absolute certainty, that there was no doubt in my mind how he felt about it.

“Guns have only one purpose,” he said. “They kill.”

There was something about that conversation with my father that I’ve never forgotten. Oh sure, there was the part about guns, with which I don’t disagree, but it was more than that. I heard in my father’s voice something that I can only describe now as moral certainty. He knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, how he felt about killing, and the destructive force of guns. And he was able to convey that to me in an absolute, clear and convincing way. For him, on that subject (more so than any other I had seen before in my 12 years, or I ever saw again in the 30 subsequent years that he was alive), it was black and white. Guns kill.

Heal me, hands of Jesus,
And search out all my pain
Restore my hope
Remove my fear
And bring me peace again.

Jesus went up on a mountain to pray, we’re told in today’s gospel reading. He took James and John and Peter. And they talked about a lot of things. In fact, I think we can assume that it was because they had such a meaningful time together that Peter thought they might continue to hang out together. “Master, it is good for us to be here… let us build three booths.” I’m thinking that whatever happened up there on the mountain, Peter wanted to live in that moment forever. But that doesn’t happen, does it? That’s not how the story goes. As tempting as it might have been to capture that moment, to stay in that moment, Jesus doesn’t. He comes down off the mountain and heals.

When we think we’ve found something that works for us, it’s easy to make an idol out of it. It’s tempting to want to hold onto it and never let go. “We know that we are worshipping an idol when a created thing becomes more important than the Creator.”1

Guns, I believe, have become an idol in our country. Instead of putting our faith in the beauty and wonder and magnificence of the created order, we have put our faith in our fears. We have put our faith in guns to keep us safe. We have made guns god, and we are allowing our fears to overtake us. Simply put, we have misplaced our faith, just as Peter came close to doing on that mountain.

Heal me, hands of Jesus,
And search out all my pain
Restore my hope
Remove my fear
And bring me peace again.

Gun violence is a political issue, to be sure. But it’s a faith issue, too. The Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, recently wrote: “The violence in our country, the violence around the world is most often an act in response to those who don’t have enough. Those who are hungry, those who ache for recognition and dignity, those who struggle for peace.”2 I would only add that violence is also often a result of fear—fear that we are going to lose something, that something is going to be taken away from us, fear of the “other”— those who are different, fear of scarcity, fear of a lack of security, fear of the unknown. Fear eats away at us and ultimately draws us away from God.

I’d like us to sing, one last time. But this time, I want us to recognize that we are all in this together. This isn’t about just me and my fears; this is about us and our fears.

Heal me, hands of Jesus,
And search out all my pain
Restore my hope
Remove my fear
And bring me peace again.

Are there easy answers about what to do about gun violence? Maybe. Maybe not. But I’m very clear that it is a faith issue. As long as we let our lives be ruled by fear we shut God out. And as long as we let the voice of fear speak louder than the voice of love, the voice of peace, nothing will change.

I love that song, “Heal me, hands of Jesus.” But I can’t stay wrapped in the coziness of the feeling it evokes for me. Just as Jesus came down off the mountain and got to work, we need to get to work.

Our world needs healing from a lot of things: healing from gross inequity, appalling poverty, and unfathomable greed. But our fear needs healing, too. May God search out all our pain, restore our hope, remove our fear and bring us peace again. And may we do what needs to be done to make this so.

1 From “Respect for a Father’s Grief,” by Valerie Elverton Dixon, at www.sojo.net.

2 Presiding Bishop’s Lent Message 2013, episcopaldigitalnetwork.com

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