Posted on 03/08/2023 9:40:31 AM PST by lightman
A group of religious leaders headed by the state’s Episcopal Diocese is asking lawmakers to move forward with a list of gun safety measures, hoping to frame the issue as a religious and moral imperative rather than a partisan one.
The group rallied at the state Capitol on Monday – less than two weeks into Lent, “the season of self-examination and repentance, and we have much to repent for,” said Rt. Rev. Audrey C. Scanlan, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Central Pennsylvania.
“It is our view that the missing component to the gun violence prevention movement is the faith community,” said Bryan Miller, director of the advocacy group Heeding God’s Call to End Gun Violence. “The faith community can take charge and lead this effort.”
The group is concentrating on four specific policy measures – all of which have been proposed as legislation in prior sessions but never crossed the finish line.
° Allowing judges to issue “extreme risk protection orders” temporarily confiscating a person’s firearms in cases where they has been deemed a danger to themselves or others. Such measures are often call “red flag” laws, and data from states where they are in place, such as Indiana, indicate they are effective, particularly at reducing suicides.
° Limiting handgun purchases to one firearm per person per month, a policy aimed at cracking down on “straw purchases” in which an individual buys numerous guns with the intent of illicitly re-selling them to person who would not be able to pass the background check. Such a law was in place in Virginia for several years, with research showing that it cut down on the number of Virginia-purchased guns showing up in crimes in other states.
° Prohibiting the sale of semi-automatic rifles modeled after military assault weapons, as well as the high-capacity magazines those rifles are able to utilize. Published studies have shown that mass shootings became deadlier after the federal assault weapons ban expired in 2004, with magazine capacities likely the primary driver, although other crime trends at the time and the loopholes in the federal law limit the conclusions that can be drawn, according to a recent Rand data survey.
° Cracking down on “ghost guns,” a term that refers to firearms built by purchasing an unfinished frame or receiver - the gun’s core component – and finishing it at home, typically with simple tools. Because the receiver was not legally a gun when it was sold, such firearms could be built without markings. The Biden administration has partially cracked down on them, issuing a rule requiring the builders of such guns to go through a background check and have their guns serialized, although disputes over regulatory language have held this up.
Although their success is nowhere near guaranteed, such policies are likely to move further this legislative session than they have in the past, largely due to Democrats taking the majority in the state’s House of Representatives and thus control of committee gavels.
Gun policy bills typically move through judiciary committees, where former House Judiciary Committee chair Rob Kauffman, R-Franklin, pledged to never give red flag proposals a hearing and used party-line gut-and-replace votes to kill other gun reform measures.
With Democrats in the House majority, the control of the committee has passed to its top Democrat, Rep. Tim Briggs, D-Montgomery, who had clashed with Kauffman over the lack of substantive gun policy discussion.
Although the faith-based group – which is entitled the Saving Lives: Ending Gun Violence Committee - has met with a few legislators already, it’s too early to gauge the likelihood of success, said Rev. Martha L. Harris, the group’s advocacy chair and a priest at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Columbia.
But, Harris said, “what has happened historically is we can’t get past the ‘R-versus-D’” element, which makes it all the more important to start the legislative session by framing the matter as one of faith and humanity instead of partisan politics.
While the committee is hosted by the Episcopal church, it includes representatives from other denominations and faiths, including Jewish leadership.
Rabbi Carl Choper of Temple Beth Shalom in Mechanicsburg invoked the verse of Leviticus that is commonly translated as “do not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor.” This, along with other rabbinical writings, serves as a “warning against the complicity of silence,” Choper said.
In 2020, 1,752 Pennsylvanians died in gun incidents, according to the CDC, putting the commonwealth in the middle of the 50 states in terms of firearm deaths per capita. Over 6,000 children were killed in shootings in 2022, a significant increase over prior years, according to the Gun Violence Archive tracker.
“We come here to implore you to begin – just to begin – to fulfill your duty to protect the people of this commonwealth,” Choper said, addressing lawmakers.
Rt. Rev. Audrey is on a roll.
I was gonna say that churches have plenty to do regarding their main purpose.
Until I saw Episcopal, which isn’t hardly a church.
There was a special election last month in Allegheny County which resulted in two Democrats being elected.
That tipped the PA House majority to D.
When the grabbers play games like pretending 21 year olds are children the numbers sound credible at first glance. What is never mentioned ts that Amish males aged 15-25 are responsible for a hugely disproportionate percentage as both victim and perp. Remove this demographic and the numbers are not terrible, especially considering the number of firearms owned per capita.
Religious and Moral Gun Control?
Every gun is loaded
Keep finger off trigger until . . .
Make sure of background
That and keep your guns clean and oiled.
Just another example of the Delphi Technique applied to
our current civilization. OOoooo, a “faith group” that
just seems to pop up at a convenient moment in order to
influence and steer the narrative.
The Delphi Technique works in small gatherings and
used in this way with large masses of individuals
who do not understand what is being done to influence
their decisions.
Look it up, once you do you will begin to see it being
applied in all manner of situations from school board
meetings to zoning hearings to town hall meetings
and even on internet groups such as FR currently in
regards to the situation in Ukraine.
Who’s that guy?
Maybe gun groups should ask legislators to take up “Episcopalian Reform” measures… you know, like limiting THEIR rights??
Not so much fun when someone messes with YOUR rights, ladies, is it?
Episcopal Church was taken over by sexual deviants and eco fascists a long time ago. It is a dying church that is rotten to the core.
OK, did not know it was a state legislature. Thought they were talking about the US House of Representatives.
Thanks.
Turn the other cheek, forgive them for they know not what they do, love your enemies, and such.
The cleansing of the temple wasn’t an act of self defence
Where does Jesus ever say that use of violence is acceptable for self defense? Your argument is like saying since Jesus never spoke out against men identifying as a woman, then it’s ok.
“I am not advocating violence. I am just pointing out that it has a place in our fallen world. It is a sin to allow evil to befall innocents when it is within your power to prevent it. I readily acknowledge that is a hard thing to work through and not to be undertaken lightly”
I agree with you .
Where is the use of violence for self defence in your example?
I pray these people drop dead.
Turning the other cheek is about letting insults go, not letting yourself be used as a punching bag by every criminal that comes along.
Besides YOU are the one who used the term *violence* and yet when confronted about it, now make excuses for why some kinds of violence are OK.
Your question is disingenuous and likely intentionally obtuse.
Snippet from what I quoted,
“15 So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts,”
Jesus used violence to drive people out for not respecting the Lords house, unless you think using a whip is a non violent action?
There is no greater temple upon earth than the body our Lord gives us, you would allow the defiling of innocence and the Lord’s temple on the notion that is is a greater good for evil acts to be committed against an innocent then to rebuff and stop the evil through force.
Your argument distills down to the idea that it is a greater evil to use force to stop evil. If however you view force as an inherent evil you are going to have to provide some basis for that. Force is a tool, how it is employed makes it good or bad. Your logic would lead to calling genocide more virtuous and preferred than using force to stop evil actors committing genocide.
To go with the use of force for self defense there is much of that in the Bible. Look up the concept of just wars, of which many are discussed in the Bible. Also do some of your own research and look up the concept and use of sanctuary cities, if force was not appropriate for defense or even just justice for a wrong there would have never been a need for them.
Bible verses that support the need for force against evil. Keep in mind the moment an individual defends a weak person from a wicked one they will need to also defend themselves, it is inherent in the act!
Now, instead of asking trite questions and creating a sophist’s assertion as argument, please provide a posit that supports your position and also references upon which your basis rests.
Luke 22:36 He said to them, “But now let the one who has a moneybag take it, and likewise a knapsack. And let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one.
Psalm 82:4 Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
1 Timothy But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
Proverbs Like a muddied spring or a polluted fountain is a righteous man who gives way before the wicked.
Romans If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
I doubt that if the Good Samaritan had come upon the scene on the Jericho road a few minutes earlier he would have clasped his hands and sung Kumbiya.
FOIA Request Reveals FBI Effort to Get Americans to Forfeit 2A Rights
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/03/08/fbi-forfeit-second-amendment-rights/
Bingo! These people are frauds and it’s a photo OP! See that photo on the steps at the website? Every single leftist organization that goes to Harrisburg can barely fill up 1/2 way up the steps but the photo OP makes it look like there’s hundreds there. I really am fed up with these lying Marxists!
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