The time has come. Indeed, many will say that the time has long past that we, as a nation, deal with our addiction to guns. Over these past years there have been mass shootings in schools, theatres, churches, and in other public gathering places. The death toll climbs. But the recent school shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on February 14th, may well have been the ‘tipping point’.
I say that because of what we are hearing from parents, teachers, clergy, even some politicians (although not that many as yet), along with a broad cross section of citizens. They are saying that they have heard enough pious talk about ‘hopes and prayers’, and ‘let’s have a moment of silence’, and ‘now is not the time to talk about solutions’. They reject this false piety and are banding together and saying ‘the time to talk about ending gun violence is now’! I would add that to many, the solution rests not so much on background checks, the proper age to purchase a gun, or mental health screening, but on banning all assault weapons, which are essentially ‘weapons of war’.
Indeed, the time may well have come for meaningful action. There seems to be a mood in the land: people are marching, writing, organizing, praying and protesting in numbers perhaps far greater than ever before. This may well be that ‘tipping point.’ Just a few examples will suffice. The list is not meant to be exhaustive. Please feel free to add to it in the ‘Comment’ section of this Blog.
- The students at the Parkland, Florida, School, have taken the lead in protesting this nation’s addiction to guns. They have gone to their State Legislature to protest and to Washington, D.C., and have organized rallies.
- Their commitment to meaningful change has inspired students at Somerville High School, here in Massachusetts, to leave school in a protest vigil each Wednesday, through the end of the school year.
- Last Thursday evening, here at Old South Church, the group ‘Mothers Demand Action’, some 400 strong, held a meeting at which concrete steps were set forth enabling each participant to take meaningful action to help insure their children’s safety.
- On March 24th at noon, there will be a march and rally on the Boston Common, ‘March for Our Lives’, with similar rallies on that day slated for cities and towns across the nation. These marches are inspired and led by young people.
- A barrage of boycott threats on social media has prompted a number of companies to drop business deals with the National Rifle Association. Examples: Symantec, makers of the popular computer virus protection program, and Met Life and Chubb have said they would end discount programs for NRA members (Boston Globe, February 24, 2018).
- Some investors are rethinking their relationship with the firearms industry. Black Rock, Inc., the world’s largest money managing company, is exploring ways to remove gun companies from portfolios of clients who no longer wish to invest in them (Boston Globe, February 25, 2018).
- Some veterans, who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, are urging that assault rifles, like the one used in Florida, should be taken off the market. They are ‘weapons of war’ and should not be in the hands of civilians (New York Times, February 28, 2018).
- Further, Dick’s Sporting Goods decided to no longer sell assault-style rifles in light of the Florida shooting. They stopped selling such weapons in 2012 after the Sandy Hook shootings and now have made it permanent. Their decision will extend to Field and Stream, their subsidiary (Boston Globe, March 1, 2018).
The list goes on and on. But what it all suggests is that we may well have reached that ‘tipping point’. Jim Wallis, a leading Christian voice on a number of justice issues and founder of the Sojourners Community, Washington, D.C., notes that many very articulate young people are turning their grief into action. No longer feeling safe attending school, they are puzzled by the inaction of adults and they are now committed to doing something about. (Sojourners, February 22, 2018. https://sojo.net).
Noting that the NRA suggests that the Second Amendment guarantees the right to bear arms, Wallis asks if that includes tanks, drones and surface-to-air missiles. He notes that NRA CEO, Wayne LaPierre, in an address to a meeting of the Conservative Political Action Conference, days after the Florida shooting, said: “There is no greater personal individual freedom than the right to keep and bear arms, the right to protect yourself, and the right to survive. It’s not bestowed by man, but granted by God to all Americans as our American birthright.” In the words of one of the survivors, a young woman: ‘I certainly don’t recognize the words of Jesus in any of that’ (see Sojourners above).
‘I don’t recognize the words of Jesus in any of that’ she said. Nor do I. Nor do a growing number of people all across this nation. For those of us in faith communities, the words of Jesus compel us to action: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul. And love your neighbor as yourself’ (from: Mt. 22:37-40). Our neighbor and our neighbor’s children are pleading for help to end the violence. Let the call of the Prophet Isaiah be true in our day as he urges us to ‘… beat your swords (guns) into plowshares’ (Isaiah 2:4). May it be so.