Gun Violence Prevention News for Congregations Jan. 2024

Presbyterian Peace Fellowship Gun Violence Prevention News for Congregations Jan. 2024

Winter Guns To Gardens Action Circles Start Thurs. Jan. 11, 1 hour weekly for 5 weeks, Midday or Eve on Zoom. A few spots are stil open. These Peace Fellowship Action Circles have helped over 300 church members learn how to do Guns to Gardens. How about you? Registration Closes Wed. Jan. 10 See Details Below or Register HERE. As we begin a new year, we mourn a sixth grader killed in school in Perry, Iowa. Did you know that 80% of mass shooters under the age of 18 simply take an unsecured gun from the home of a friend or relative to commit the shooting? We start the new year with new determination to protect children and others from gun violence. With Guns to Gardens, churches are taking direct action to reduce unwanted guns, preventing them from being stolen, resold or used in a mass shooting, suicide or unintentional shooting. Hear their stories: Above, A member of St. Mark's Presbyterian Church operated the chop saw on Dec. 9, Guns to Gardens Day in the St. Louis area, dismantling 11 unwanted guns. Other church volunteers came from Second Presbyterian Church and Webster Groves Presbyterian Church, which hosted the drive-through event in their parking lot. The leftover guns parts will be made into garden tools, art and jewelry. The same week, Webster Groves Presbyterian Church sponsored a candlelight vigil to remember gun violence victims. "We consider the events very successful for our first time doing them," said coordinator Julie Burchett. Find a media story about the Webster Groves Guns to Gardens Safe Surrender Day HERE. Photo by Ursala Ruhl

The Peace Fellowship encouraged Action Circle "graduates" to host recent Guns to Gardens events. On Oct. 22, Trinity Presbyterian Church in Harrisonburg, VA hosted their first safe surrender event, in partnership with Shalom Mennonite Church, Community Mennonite Church and Parkview Mennonite Church. The trained volunteers dismantled 8 unwanted firearms. See a media video of their event HERE. Other Guns to Gardens events were held at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Bay Village, OH on Oct. 28 and at Central Presbyterian Church in St. Paul, MN on Oct. 14. That event included a display on the church front steps of over 100 tee-shirts, representing recent victims of gun violence, followed by a blacksmith demonstration of how to transform gun parts into garden tools. On Nov. 4 the First Congregational Church and Ridgefield Crystal Lake Presbyterian Church joined together to bring Guns to Gardens into Crystal Lake, the first such event that we know of in the state of Illinois. Action Circle graduates in Louisville, KY have held several Guns to Gardens events, dismantling over 50 guns altogether. On Nov. 18, their event at Westwood Presbyterian Church dismantled 5 guns, including an assault weapon. That unwanted firearm was brought to the church by a mother whose son had owned the gun before he was killed 2 years ago. Church volunteers prayed with her as the gun was being dismantled. Some groups held their events in early Dec. to remember the Sandy Hook school shooting on Dec. 14, 2012, and other victims of gun violence. In Worcester County, Massachusettes, Guns to Gardens was sponsored on Dec. 9 by the U. Mass Memorial Health Injury Prevention Center, with 6 locations for voluntarily surrendering unwanted guns. Weather was an issue in some locations, such as snow on Guns to Gardens Day in Denver, CO, see photo. In spite of the snow, Action Circle graduates at Denver's Westwood Community Center dismantled 53 firearms on Dec. 9. And in Decatur, GA, where volunteers were among the very first to join Guns to Gardens Action Circles, they tend to draw rain. Out comes the tent and onward goes the chop saw! Whatever the weather, the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship salutes and thanks all of these creative, compassionate and passionate congregations, who are determined to save lives, one gun at a time. To explore Guns to Gardens for your community, see below.

Next Guns to Gardens Action Circles Jan. 11- Feb. 8 Register Now HERE for Noon ET Or HERE for 7:30 pm ET Learn more about Guns to Gardens HERE.

General Assembly 2024: Action Needed! Several congregations and presbyteries are supporting "An Overture Calling for Action so that Children May Live Free from Gun Violence." Can your church session act in the near future on this overture, sending it to your presbytery to act? Find the full text HERE. Let us know if you have questions or if your church is taking action HERE. Also, please let us know if you are a commissioner to GA in 2024. Thank you.

New! T-Shirts & Sweatshirts PPF now offers Guns to Gardens T-shirts and sweatshirts with the Guns to Gardens logo on the front and Isaiah 2:4 on the back. Order for your church volunteers for gun violence prevention events or as a gift. Order HERE

Support PPF's Gun Violence Prevention Ministry! We need support from churches, individuals annd presbyteries to do this work. Gifts of all amounts are needed. Gifts are tax-deductible. Give HERE Or Mail checks to: "Presbyterian Peace Fellowship" att: Gun Violence Prevention 17 Cricketown Rd. Stony Point, NY 10980 Thank you. GIVE HERE!

Learn more at presbypeacefellowship.org/gun-violence gvp@presbypeacefellowship.org Rev. Jan Orr-Harter, Enews Editor janoh4@aol.com News! Share new article in Presbyterian Outlook by Rev. Deanna Hollas, From Despair to Hope: Mobilizing Your Church to End Gun Violence HERE. Find the full special issue on Gun Violence Prevention HERE.