Over the past weekend a dozen people were killed by gun violence in several states: New Jersey, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Virginia, and South Carolina. Dozens more were injured. Some of the shootings were clearly targeted; others seemed to be random.
Gun violence is a scourge in this country, but the courts, finding a fealty to the Second Amendment, keep permitting the proliferation of guns to the point where even people who are perpetrators of domestic violence claim they have the right to own guns.
And it’s not just the automatic and semi-automatics that kill. Most are hand guns and many are bought legitimately. It’s time to rethink what we really want to be as a Nation, and whether guns and violence rule our lives.
Prayer for the Day
Storms of violence rage all about us, O God,
Causing us to fear that our ship will take on water;
Our skies shake with thunder and we are overwhelmed,
Preventing us from seeing the sun breaking through the clouds.
Enable us to see through the mist of our daily lives
Leading us to ways to find justice and peace in our lives.
In the name of him who shared your peace with us,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
When a country with less than five percent of the world's population has nearly half of the world's privately owned guns and makes up nearly a third of the world's mass shootings, it's time to stop saying guns make us safer.
DeShanne Stokes, sociologist
Senators say they fear the NRA and the gun lobby. But I think that fear must be nothing compared to the fear the first graders in Sandy Hook Elementary School felt as their lives ended in a hail of bullets.
Gabriele Giffords, member of Congress shot in 2011
I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God; incline your ear to me, hear my words.
Wondrously show to me your mercies, O rescuer of those who shelter from foes.
Guard me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings.
Psalm 17: 6-8