Can We Solve the Problem of
Gun Violence in the United States?

By Kathy Lindner, member of the Just Peace Team

Over the next several months, The Carillon will feature a series of articles exploring what it means to become a Just Peace Congregation. In this installment, Just Peace team member Kathy Lindner asks the question, “Can gun violence be prevented?”

As you may know, we moved to Storrs two years ago.  We succeeded in finding an affordable retirement community at the Jensen Rolling Hills community and are now closer to our families in Massachusetts.  Every time we drove up from New Jersey to look at houses, we passed the Newtown exit on Route 84.  My heart would ache as I thought of the twenty young students and six teachers in Sandy Hook Elementary School who were killed in December 2012.  Their lives were taken by a mentally disturbed young man who had easy access to an assault rifle that his mother had legally purchased.

Since then I have been exploring the ways in which such senseless violence could be prevented.  Sandy Hook Promise, comprised of the parents of the lost children, has taken the lead in developing programs to help promote awareness of individuals with mental health issues who might be prone to violence.  They have developed a program called “Know the Signs” to help parents, teachers and students know how to recognize signs of abnormal behavior that may lead to violence.

As a Just Peace Church, one of our missions might be working with Sandy Hook Promise and the faith communities near us to offer the organization’s program to local schools in our area and the college community.

The United Church of Christ has a history of writing resolutions on preventing gun violence.  (To learn more about the UCC’s national resources for preventing gun violence, visit www.ucc.org, click on “advocate for justice” and then on “gun violence” in the list of issues.)

In 1995, the 20th Synod prepared a resolution on gun violence which included prohibiting semiautomatic assault weapons, explosive ammunition and large capacity magazines.

At the recent 2017 Synod Meeting, the UCC passed a resolution “recognizing and studying gun violence as a public health emergency.”  It was resolved to reinstate federal funding for scientific research on gun violence by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and to openly debate methods to improve gun safety, training and storage to reduce gun deaths.  Copies of this resolution are available online.  http://synod.uccpages.org/res10.html

We as individuals must also work to end gun violence. A good first step would be to enlist the help of our congressional representatives. We can call on them to introduce and support legislation to form a commission to study gun violence and its pervasiveness in our society.  As a Just Peace Church, we would also be empowered as a congregation to urge our representatives to form such a commission. A group from the church could study the UCC resources and use the UCC “Advocacy Toolkit” to urge Congress to pass gun violence prevention legislation.

What has happened in other countries that have lowered the risks of gun violence?  I have read parts of Reducing Gun Violence in America, Informing Policy with Evidence and Analysis, edited by Daniel W. Webster and Jon S. Vernick.  I was surprised to learn that there was a similar school shooting in 1996 in Dunblane Primary School in central Scotland.  A man was armed with two semi-automatic pistols and two revolvers carrying hundreds of rounds of ammunition loaded into high-capacity magazines, all legally held at that time.  Sixteen five and six-year-old students and one teacher were killed; another ten children and three teachers were injured.  The man then killed himself.  The public outrage at this scale of violence precipitated a campaign for tighter gun control and in 1997 the purchase of handguns in the United Kingdom was prohibited. There are other regulations for shotguns, rifles and semiautomatic firearms.  (See the Webster book for progress made by other countries.)

The history of attempts at gun control legislation in the United States is detailed and complex. Webster’s book analyzes all these attempts and evaluates their effectiveness in reducing violent deaths.

One such initiative was the Federal Assault Weapons Ban of 1994. This legislation included a ten-year prohibition on the manufacture for civilian use of certain semi-automatic firearms defined as assault weapons. It also prohibited certain ammunition magazines defined as “large capacity.” Both the House and the Senate (by a 52-48 vote) passed the law, and President Clinton signed it into law. The ban expired in 2004.  (For more on the ban, search “ban on assault weapons” in Wikipedia.)

In 2008, President Barack Obama set forth a goal of making the expired federal Assault Weapons Ban permanent.  A bill was introduced in 2013, but did not pass the Senate.

Where are we as a country if every day we are fearful of hearing news of another massacre of innocent victims such as the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando in 2016 or the recent massacre in Las Vegas?  It is our responsibility to act, advocate and elect officials who will work tirelessly to pass gun violence protection legislation.

To receive Sandy Hook Promise’s updates and information on all the current legislation regarding gun violence, visit Sandy Hook’s website, www.sandyhookpromise.org, and add your name to the email list. You will receive information on topics such as legislation concerning bump stocks, the repeal the legislation that exempts the gun industry from liability; and ways for strengthening background checks.

We must do more: become more educated in this area; join our national UCC partners; advocate for a gun violence reduction commission; and pray that peace and nonviolence is possible.