Gun Control: A Hopeful Development

Former Rep. Gabby Giffords testifying before Congress

In an online news posting entitled, "Senators Discuss Changing Background Checks Bill," reporter Alan Fram observes, "A study by the government's Bureau of Justice Statistics found that gun-related homicides dropped from a peak of 18,253 in 1993 to 11,101 in 2011, down by over one-third. A report by the private Pew Research Center said gun homicides per 100,000 people fell from 7 in 1993 to 3.6 in 2010, a drop of nearly half. Both reports found nonfatal gun crimes dropped by roughly 70 percent over that period."  This in spite of the laxity of our national gun laws, the NRA's promotion of a gun culture, and all of the talk about 2nd Amendment rights.

These figures are still too high.  We still need to develop a wise policy concerning firearms, one that gets beyond fear mongering and finger pointing.  Otherwise, there will be another Sandy Hook, another Aurora, and another Columbine.  Still, we the public seem to be already taking action ourselves to accomplish what Congress can't seem to do—reduce gun violence.  For whatever reason, when it comes to guns we are behaving better.  That's good.  That's hopeful for the future.  Sooner or later the current gun debate will quiet down again, and even if we can't get the national legislation we need to improve the situation we face today it seems likely that all of the publicity and debate that has taken place since Sandy Hook will itself have a further positive impact.  That is a prayer as well as a reasonable hope for the future.  Amen.

Worth Thinking About

Yesterday's Huffington Post online contained several postings on its Religion Page  worth reading and thinking about.  First, Paul Brandeis Raushenbush wrote a posting entitled, "Rick Santorum's Political and Biblical Mistake," which calls presidential candidate Rick Santorum to task for apparently claiming that President Obama espouses a false, unbiblical theology that he seeks to impose on the nation.  Raushenbush makes the points that it is not wise to introduce theological differences into politics and that Mr. Santorum can himself be charged with unbiblical views.  Second,  an unsigned news posting entitled, "Hannah Kelley, Pastor's Daughter Accidentally Shot At Church, Dies," picks up on an article from the Tampa Bay Times (here) reporting the death of  Hannah Kelley, a pastor's daughter who was accidentally shot and seriously wounded at church on Sunday, February 12th.  The sad incident suggests that sometimes guns do kill people almost of themselves.   Third, there is an article by Peggy Fletcher Stack, who writes for the Salt Lake Tribune, entitled, "Evangelicals Defined: The History Of American Evangelicalism," which originally published in the Salt Lake Tribute under the title, "Who are evangelicals?"  The article offers some insights into how hard it actually is to define "evangelicalism".

And, finally, the posting entitled, "The End of Church," by Diana Butler Bass offers comments on the future of religion in America.  She looks for a reorganization of religion and of Christianity, noting that a large majority of Americans remain interested in spirituality and faith—but not in the conventional, traditional ways of the past.  This posting, too, is worth a read and some thought.  Happy Reflections!