Presbyterian Peace Fellowship - It's time to ban assault rifles.

‌ It's time to ban assault rifles Let us love, not in truth or speech, but in truth and action. ~ 1 John 3:18 We pray. We act.  We pray. We act.  We pray. We act.  We pray to tend our hearts so that we will not fall numb to this violence.  We pray to lift up those who are most suffering from systems of oppression, systems that drive people to violence and that cause children to die on our watch, in our schools.  We pray specifically for those children and families who lost loved ones.  And we pray specifically today for trans people, who continue to be targeted and experience violence in the name of Christianity. We pray to clarify our longing...  ...to imagine a world where our greatest weapons are truth, compassion and love, ...to imagine a world where all people feel support, care and belonging just as they are.  Today we offer you a few prayers to support you and your community as you hold each other inside of the grief and rage and sorrow that emerge when we stand together in the wake of another school shooting. Download the congregational toolkit (includes prayer vigil) Pray the Truth and Action Litany And… we invite you to act.  Guns are the leading cause of death among children  and teens in the United States. And there is one clear step we can ask congress to take to help save lives. Ban assault rifles.  We ask that you call your senators and representatives this week and ask them to pass S.25 - Assault Weapons Ban of 2023  Since the lapse in 2004 of the federal assault weapons ban, assault style weapons with large-capacity ammunition magazines have become the favorite weapon of those who wish to do harm.  According to Giffords Law Center, an analysis of public mass shootings resulting in four or more deaths found that more than 85% of such fatalities were caused by an assault style rifle.   Here is how you can contact your lawmakers. Share that you stand with the 67% of Americans who support a ban on assault style weapons and want congress to prioritize children's lives over gun industry profits by passing the Assault Weapons Ban of 2023.    TAKE ACTION The good news is that we don’t have to wait on legislators to take action. We can do something in our own communities now. We can dismantle guns and forge them into tools that grow food.  There are few ways to get rid of a gun and ensure it will not cause future harm unless you chop it up. Even gun parts, if not dismantled properly, can be used again to create new weapons. Be a part of the growing movement to use church parking lots as safe surrender sites where unwanted guns can be dismantled permanently.  We invite you to commit to joining the next action circle for our Guns To Gardens campaign. On June 10 we will host a national day of action and churches around the nation will host events where they chop up unwanted guns. (You can read about prior national action days here and here.) Sign up for this five-week action circle that starts on May 4, 2023 to learn how to dismantle a gun, how to plan for your event, support to create liturgy and healing space for those who bring in weapons, and more.  With grief and determination, Rev. Deanna Hollas Gun Violence Prevention Coordinator