Serious solutions, common sense gun laws needed for safer schools | Opinion
This week, as the school year begins, our state and federal representatives will be receiving a letter of concern about the safety of our children in their places of learning. Signed by local religious leaders and laypeople, it concerns the political response, or lack thereof, to the school shooting that was narrowly thwarted in our community.
Last spring, a young man in illegal possession of firearms was accused of a coordinated plan to reign an unimaginable violence and terror upon our children in their school. Were it not for a disclosure by a brave individual, State College could have joined Columbine, Sandy Hook, Parkland and countless other towns now known for the tragedies that have befallen them. As our children head back to school, the letter expresses sadness that our community members remain no safer, the sense of urgency among politicians no greater, than they were before the threat.
This is a serious problem. In response, we parents, leaders and community members demand serious solutions. We are past the point of waiting, past the point where we can continue to be subject to the deeply unserious political games clouding the real moral clarity of this issue. We signees of the letter are united, through our faith, in the idea that life is precious. The conclusion that we protect innocent life by any means necessary should follow immediately. And yet we find that politicians, happy to trumpet the intrinsic value of life when it is politically beneficial to them, are silent about that issue when it comes to unsafe gun use. Instead, we find politicians supporting laws that will bring more guns into our community. This is, in more than one sense, politics in bad faith.
We are tired of the narrative tying guns to godliness, an uneasy political marriage that makes a mockery of religion. We people of faith argue, with greater consistency, for common-sense gun legislation that protects the divine spark of life within us. This is why we endorse bills that will limit gun trafficking and improve resources for reporting lost and stolen guns. These actions are necessary to help police limit the presence of illegal firearms in our communities and keep guns out of the hands of people who wish to do harm.
We are further tired of the narrative that there is some sharp, deep divide between what people want when it comes to gun use. Here, too, we find politicians benefit themselves by clouding the moral clarity that exists around gun violence. Most people support safe gun storage. Most people support protecting those at risk.
We thus signed this letter in solidarity with all who are serious about the intrinsic value of life, serious about gun safety, and serious about returning to a position of moral clarity about gun use. We are demanding the following items of action:
1. act on legislation mandating use of the Electronic Records of Sale (EROS) system, and
2. the passing of HB 338 mandating reporting of lost or stolen firearms.
3. blockage of the atrocious “Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act”
We hope others will join us in contacting our representatives and demanding action for safer schools.
Rev. Tracy Sprowls, Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Centre County; Rev. Scott E. Schul, Grace Lutheran Church; Rev. Carolyn Hetrick, Grace Lutheran Church; Rev. Dr. Thomas Blair, St. Johns UCC, Boalsburg; Rev. Kate Heinzel, University Mennonite Church; Rev. Evelyn Wald, St. Stephen Lutheran Church; Rev. Dr. Anne K. Ard, retired; Rev. Greg Davidson Laszakovits, University Baptist & Brethren Church; Rev. Gregory A. Milinovich and Rev. Sarah Coker Voigt, St. Paul’s UMC and Wesley Foundation; Joshua Wretzel, Congregation Brit Shalom; Karen Moser, University Baptist & Brethren Church; Frances Moorman, Roman Catholic; Gail Addison Guss, University Baptist & Brethren Church; Katherine Allen, Member, State College Presbyterian Church; Anne Demo, Interfaith Lead – Mom’s Demand Action Centre County