wfn.org | NCCCUSA Joins "Interfaith Call to End Gun Violence"

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National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA
Email: news@ncccusa.org Web: www.ncccusa.org
Contact: NCC News Department, 212-870-2227

27NCC3/14/2000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NCC JOINS "INTERFAITH CALL TO END GUN VIOLENCE"

(DR. EDGAR'S STATEMENT EMBARGOED 'TIL 9:30 A.M. EST MARCH 15, 2000)

March 15, 2000, WASHINGTON, D.C. - In a statement that blasts a Congress 
that constantly discussing the epidemic of gun violence in the United 
States "but decides against taking substantive action," National Council of 
Churches General Secretary Dr. Bob Edgar today detailed the Council's 
support for several proposals to reduce access to guns, including waiting 
periods and background checks prior to purchase along with efforts to ban 
the sale of handguns and assault weapons.
"Because we are so committed to ending this scourge of violence, the 
National Council of Churches has made the issue of gun violence one of its 
top priorities and will focus significant educational and advocacy 
resources on this matter in the years to come," Dr. Edgar said.
Dr. Edgar's statement is in support of an Interfaith Call to End Gun 
Violence, to be released publicly at a news conference at 9:30 a.m. 
Wednesday, March 15, at the United Methodist Building, 100 Maryland Ave. 
N.E., Washington, D.C.

Participants will underscore that, in spite of their diverse religious 
backgrounds, all are compelled as people to faith to make ending gun 
violence a personal priority.
In addition to Rabbi David Saperstein and other prominent members of the 
religious community, the Honorable Andrew Cuomo, Secretary of Department of 
Housing and Urban Development, will speak on the issue of gun violence.

STATEMENT ON GUN VIOLENCE

By Robert W. Edgar, General Secretary
The National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.
March 15, 2000
Our nation continues to reel under the flood of stories about the death of 
children from gunfire - one small child at the hands of another child in a 
Michigan school, two teenagers going home from a high school ball game in 
Washington, D.C., toddlers caught in the crossfire of street warfare. Every 
day children suffer injuries or death as a result of the misuse of guns, 
either through accident or by intention. Even when they are not physically 
the victims, they suffer from the loss of parents and friends, their fear 
of going back to a place where violence has occurred, and the disruption of 
their young lives.

Gun violence has occurred in epidemic proportions in the United States for 
many years, and Congress constantly discusses the issue but decides against 
taking substantive action, in the face of pressure from advocates for gun 
ownership and use. We are aware that new laws alone will not end the wave 
of gun violence sweeping the nation, but we are convinced that the number 
of shootings will be reduced by making it harder for individuals to 
purchase the kinds of guns which have no function except to injure and kill 
humans. Because we are so committed to ending this scourge of violence, the 
National Council of Churches has made the issue of gun violence one of its 
top priorities and will focus significant educational and advocacy 
resources on this matter in the years to come.
Guns are readily available in every segment of the society, and the death 
and injury caused by their use is rampant. More than 200 million guns are 
in circulation in the U.S. today. Between one-third and one-half of all 
households own at least one. Every day in the U.S. an average of 87 people, 
12 of them children, die as a result of gun wounds, a figure which is 
rapidly approaching the rate of deaths through car accidents.

The Clinton Administration and several leaders in Congress have proposed a 
variety of ways to reduce access to guns, such as waiting periods and 
background checks prior to the purchase of guns. We support these 
initiatives, as well as efforts to ban the sale of handguns and assault 
weapons.
These guns are the weapons of choice in the commission of crimes. They are 
also the instruments by which children accidentally shoot themselves and 
others and adults act out their aggressions in conflicts or disputes with 
friends, family, and strangers, simply because these weapons are so 
available. If guns were not readily at hand, people in conditions of stress 
might be motivated to find a less violent way to resolve their conflicts.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced a major 
focus on efforts to reduce gun violence in public housing, including the 
release in February of a HUD report entitled "In the Crossfire: The Impact 
of Gun Violence on Public Housing Communities." The report reveals that 
people who receive government housing assistance are twice as likely as 
those in the general population to be victims of gun violence, with one 
person killed each day by gunfire in the nation's 100 largest public 
housing communities.

The HUD report points out that, of course, the greatest loss from gun 
violence is in the lives of those who are killed and injured; but families 
suffer as well from the isolation caused by fear, a sense of lost 
community, and the tendency of people whose circumstances improve to flee 
from the area, leaving behind their less fortunate neighbors. Additionally, 
there are high financial costs associated with policing and attempts at 
security.

Recently a bipartisan group of Members of Congress who are distressed about 
the torrent of gun violence in our nation's schools issued a report that 
grew out of their year-long study of the matter. They identified a number 
of programs which could be expanded and strengthened to protect our 
children and prevent future gun violence, including such things as early 
childhood programs, after-school centers, community policing, and better 
access to job training and college. It is a sad and telling comment that 
this group -- with its positive motivation and its commitment to ending the 
scourge of gun violence -- felt that it could not address the issue of gun 
control because doing so would impede its ability to arrive at its 
beneficial recommendations.
It is increasingly evident that guns, rather than providing the security 
people seek and rightfully deserve, only add further to our sense of unease 
and danger. The escalation of gun violence compels us to call for an end to 
the manufacture and easy distribution of such instruments of destruction. A 
faith that expresses compassion for all God's children is opposed to 
violence in all forms.

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