December 14 will be the one-year anniversary of the tragedy at Sandy Hook
Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. The General Board of Church &
Society of The United Methodist Church has provided a document that can be
reproduced and distributed as a church bulletin insert or distributed in other
appropriate venues. Because of my lack of abilities with "pdf"
documents, I cannot post a copy of this excellent piece by Bill Mefford,
director of civil and human rights of GBCS. However, if you will send me a
request by e-mail, I will forward the message to you--or perhaps you can find
it at
http://umc-gbcs.org.
The insert lists the names of the victims and their ages: all of the 20
children were six or seven years old. The text also gives a prayer that speaks
to God of our concern for all families and communities that are victimized by
gun violence and asks for moral courage for all of us to work toward
eliminating gun violence.
Additionally the insert points out several significant facts.
If you can’t use the entire document, you may use the following text, which
is taken from that larger one and may be re-formatted into a two-column,
landscape document for distribution among UMW members or the congregation at
large. You will likely need to adjust the margins and some settings, including separating the text for two columns which will enable you to print these back-to-back.
*******************
December 14 will be the one-year anniversary of the tragedy at Sandy Hook
Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Violence--particularly violence to
children--continues to be a primary concern for United Methodists. In the name
of Christ who came "and proclaimed peace to you" and challenged all
his disciples to be peacemakers, we call upon the church to affirm its faith
through vigorous efforts to curb and eliminate gun violence.
Following is a list of those whose lives were violently ended by the gunman
who then took his own life, the children listed first.
Charlotte Bacon
Catherine
Hubbard
Jack Pinto
Daniel Barden
Chase
Kowalski
Noah Pozner
Olivia Engel
Jesse Lewis
Caroline Previdi
Josephine Gay
James Mattioli
Jessica
Rekos
Ana Marquez-Greene
Grace
McDonnell
Aveille Richman
Dylan Hockley
Emilie Parker
Benjamin Wheeler
Madeleine Hsu
Allison
Wyatt
Dawn Hochsprung
Lauren Rousseau
Nancy Lanza
(mother of gunman)
Rachel Davino Mary
Sherlach
Adam
Lanza
Anne Marie Murphy
Victoria Soto
Let
us pray. Creator God, we pray today not only for the
peace and comfort for the families, friends, and neighbors of those who died in
the shooting but also for the Newtown community and for our nation. We pray for
the Church to be a vessel of peace and healing in the midst of gun violence
wherever it occurs. We pray also for those families and communities that are victimized
by gun violence but are out of the glare and concern of the eye of the national
media and so for whom our nation does not mourn. Finally, we pray for the moral
courage for our elected leaders to do everything in their power to end gun
violence. Amen.
----second column----
Putting
Our Faith into Action
Preventing
gun violence is multifaceted,
but
some steps can lessen the number of gun-related deaths.
Currently,
40% of all gun purchases are made without any background checks.
Studies show fewer
guns are linked to crime when there background checks are performed, where
there is oversight of gun dealers and coordination between state and local law
enforcement.
There
is a link between violence and substance abuse.
A 1997 study by the
U.S. Dept. of Justice found that over 50% of violence crimes were committed
while the perpetrator was under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
Abused
women are five times more likely to be killed if their abuser owns a gun. A 1991 study showed that of the
abusers who killed their partners with guns, over 60% used drugs or alcohol
that same day.
Of
the people who have mental illness, an overwhelming number are not prone to
violence. So in many ways, these two issues are not
linked at all. Among the small number of those who have mental illness and who
commit gun violence, most experts agree the answer is greater access to mental
health services.
The
assault weapon ban had an impact on decreasing gun crimes. Following the end of the
1994-2004 ban on some types of assault weapons, a study showed that the ban had
a small but real impact on decreasing gun crimes particularly those involving
assault weapons. Authors of the study said that a ban involving more types of
assault weapons and on high-capacity magazines would have a greater impact on
limiting gun-related violence.
Studies
linking gun violence and video games and movies is at best mixed. Some studies show that playing
violent video games and watching such movies leads to more aggressive behavior.
Others, however, show less of a link. No study revealed that violent media
reduced gun-related violence.
For more
information on how you can help prevent gun violence, contact Bill Mefford, Director, Civil & Human
Rights,GBCS of The United Methodist Church. bmefford@umc-gbcs.org.
