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Mission leader appeals for gun control in wake of Minnesota shootings

 


Mission leader appeals for gun control in wake of Minnesota shootings

March 23, 2005

NEW YORK (UMNS)--The Rev. R. Randy Day, chief executive of the mission agency of the United Methodist Church, made a strong appeal for gun control in the wake of the shooting of 10 people in rural Minnesota on March 21.

He reiterated a denominational call, made last year, for legislative action to limit the manufacture, sale, and possession of firearms, and urged schools, churches, and the entertainment industry, including video game makers, to do more to focus attention away from violence and gun use.

Day, who is top executive of the Board of Global Ministries, asked President George W. Bush to "lead a massive American campaign to control guns and end gun violence." He urged the President, who is a member of the United Methodist Church, to resist the powerful gun lobby in favor of programs of tightened sales restrictions and of "gun amnesty," or surrender, in return for tax credits.

"The time for righteous action for gun control is now!" he said.

A teenaged gunman shot and killed 10 people and wounded a dozen more at the Red Lake High School and, reportedly, also killed his grandparents, on March 21. He then turned the gun on himself.

Day called attention to the work being done by his agency’s Women’s Division to limit the exposure of minors to video games featuring gun violence. Those efforts are both legislative and educational.

The 2000 United Methodist General Conference, the church’s highest legislative body, adopted a strong statement in favor of greater gun control, which still stands and is part of the 2004 Book of Resolutions.

Day pointed out that the deaths of young people by gun violence are hardly limited to rampages like that in Red Lake. "One major newspaper," he said, "callously reported that Red Lake shooting "was the worst at a school since 15 people were killed at Columbine High School near Littleton, Colo., in 1999," as though a five year interval between school massacres was somehow a reason for hope. Every day, young people in this country are gunned down both by their peers and their elders."

The full text of Day’s statement can be found at http://gbgm-umc.org/global_news/pr.cfm?articleid=3082&CFID=2988.

News media contact: Kathy L. Gilbert, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.

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