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The Bridge . . . Gun Violence PLEASE READ ON!!!
I know that this issue is VERY controversial in our country right now. This Bridge is NOT from me, but is from a member of our congregation who is curious about what others are thinking and feeling. I am a gun owner and hunter (this usually surprises people), but all that is happening has really challenged me to think about my rights and the rights of others.
I have provided Tom Jacobs with this space to share information he has gathered and his request for you to answer his questionnaire at the end of this Bridge ("Reply" of this Bridge will go directly to him) as much to explore a new way for us to start conversations at HRC as on the issue itself. Not that I don't think the issue is not VERY important, but if we can't talk about all issues as a church family, how can we truly be a place where all people can belong. We do not need to agree on everything, but we need to be willing to have the conversation.
Please, enjoy the conversation!!!
Until Next Time. . . Mark
From Tom Jacobs:
The attached article is in Excel spreadsheet format and drawn from the Mother Jones periodical. Shown are mass killings from 1982, where and when they occurred, number of victims, weapons used, where the perpetrators got them, what happened, and the probable psychological problems of the perpetrator.
The "weapon of choice" for mass shootings is the semi-automatic handgun and the "assault weapon" (which is also semiautomatic.) "Semiautomatic" means that for each pull or the trigger, you get one bullet. The advantage is that you don't need to take your aim off the target to reload and "cock" the weapon: you just keep on pulling the trigger.
Fully automatic weapons (as long as you hold in the trigger, bullets keep pouring out) are presently banned to the general population.
Although with semiautomatics you can kill a large number of people at one time, the total number of people killed this way is miniscule compared to the total number of people killed by all gun violence. However, perhaps because of the fear that supply will be cut off, the rush is on to acquire more of these weapons.
And my understanding is that the number of these weapons that could go into public hands is limited only by the manufacturer's ability to produce them. There is no registration to owners that buy; and there is no limit to the number a gun owner can acquire. Some sportsmen use the assault weapons for hunting and on the shooting range. They are accurate and fun to shoot.
The Second Amendment "right of the people to keep and bear arms" is not absolute. In the Supreme Court's 2008 Majority Opinion in District of Columbia vs. Heller, it said (among other things) that the right must give way to "laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms". It would seem that public safety would be a logical reason for imposing conditions and qualifications on any sale.
There is contention in Congress about where to draw the line between the "right to bear arms" and the public safety. Some in Congress are worried that if they give in too much to safety, they will lose their seat in Congress.
I am not interested in establishing a church "position", but I do think that individual members might want a voice in what I consider a very important moral issue. What I would suggest is that you would answer the following questions, send them back to me and I will summarize the replies (the yes's and no's, including your comments) and submit that to the congressional powers that be.
Some statistics that may be of interest:
US Population: 306 million
Total Number of weapons in public hands: 310 million number of semiautomatics: estimated over 4 million (and growing) number of gun related injuries (2009): 75000 number of gun-related deaths (2010)
Suicides: 19000
Homicides: 11000
US with 5% of world's population, has 35-50% of world's civilian-owned guns.
US=#1 in firearms/capita
US=#1`in firearm homicides among developed nations semiautomatics no longer banned after 2004. (Senator Feinstein's law in effect until then)
THE QUESTIONAIRE
1) No opinion. I have no input. Let the Congress do its thing. It will anyway.
2) Congress should leave it alone.
3) I feel that the manufacture and sale of semiautomatics to the public should be banned
4) There should be buyback program for semiautomatics
5) Background checks into mental state and criminal past should be strengthened and shared between states and federal government.
6) Semiautomatics, if allowed, should be in a national registry
7) If semiautomatics are allowed, those who own them should be licensed
8) Tighten prosecutions and lengthen time served
9) Crack down on illegal interstate trafficking of guns, and black market operations
10) School staff should be armed, or the school should have police protection
11) If a person in one state has a concealed weapons permit, should he be allowed to travel with that concealed weapon to another state without proper authorization from that state?
12) Other opinions and ideas as to what Congress should, or should not, do.
As an alternative or in addition, you may want to make some calls to Washington. Consider the following:
The Senate Judiciary Committee under Pat Leahy (Vermont) has been debating the issue. Also, there is a bipartisan committee of Democrats Chuck Schumer and Joe Manchin (New York and West Virginia) and Republicans Tom Coburn and Mark Kirk (Oklahoma and Illinois) working on some sort of compromise. It stands as follows:
Expand background checks to cover most private sales improving state mental illness sharing with the feds there is an ongoing discussion about whether to exempt sales or transfers between family members from the background checks
Phones and web pages:
Pat Leahy-202-224-4242 leahy.senate.gov
Chuck Schumer-202-224-6452 schumer.senate.gov Joe Manchin-202-224-3954 manchin.senate.gov Tom Coburn-202-224-5754 coburn.senate.gov Mark Kirk-202-224-2854 kirk.senate.gov Kirsten Gillibrand-202-224-4451 gillibrand.senate.gov
Thanks in advance for your input.
Tom Jacobs
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