{"id":4062,"date":"2019-07-10T10:30:00","date_gmt":"2019-07-10T15:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/?p=4062"},"modified":"2019-07-10T10:30:00","modified_gmt":"2019-07-10T15:30:00","slug":"not-waiting-for-the-next-tragedy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/not-waiting-for-the-next-tragedy\/","title":{"rendered":"Not waiting for the next tragedy"},"content":{"rendered":"

By John Johnson, Program Director for Domestic Policy<\/em><\/p>\n

It happens every single day. Somewhere in our country, gun violence shatters a community, a neighborhood, a family. Almost 40,000 people died in 2018 from guns<\/a>. That equates with a city the size of Annapolis, the capital of Maryland, struck down in a year \u2013 year after year.<\/p>\n

Although written in 1995, the ELCA social message on “Community Violence<\/a>” reads as if describing today.<\/p>\n

“For some women and children, home is less safe than the street. Hate crimes continue. Neighborhood, schoolyard, workplace, or family disputes spark into violence and become lethal. They become headline news, reinforcing the atmosphere of violence and inspiring profitable entertainment media\u201d<\/em> (page 1).<\/p>\n

Access to a lethal weapon intensifies the situation. Gun violence disproportionately impacts communities of color<\/a>. Guns figure prominently in domestic violence<\/a> and have been used to terrorize our children in schools<\/a>. The proliferation of guns, assault weapons and the violence that ensues around these weapons is a thief in the night.<\/p>\n

Our national reality is that the next tragedy can happen at any moment. Where is Congress? Where is the president? The realities of gun violence are not adequately in the forefront of policy discussion.<\/p>\n

Congress and the administration should be debating and passing legislation now like:<\/p>\n