Fear not: Seek peace in our communities

Learn | Pray | Give | Advocate for change

Gun violence is epidemic in the United States, with approximately 30,000 gun deaths each year. These statistics include homicides, suicides, accidental death, and “legal interventions” (self-defense or police actions). Of these, suicides are the most common cause of gun death, with legal interventions making up just 1 percent of the total.

Our shared humanity compels us to care about God’s children dying from gun violence on the streets of Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Los Angeles and elsewhere. Churches have begun to say, “it doesn’t have to be this way. We can do something.” Will you help us turn the tide?

Learn

Pray

If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority. But if the church will free itself from the shackles of a deadening status quo, and, recovering its great historic mission, will speak and act fearlessly and insistently in terms of justice and peace, it will enkindle the imagination of humankind and fire the souls of the people, imbuing them with a glowing and ardent love for truth, justice and peace.  - Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Hymn: God of Mercy, You Have Shown Us

  Call to Confession

  Scripture: Matthew 5:38-45, John 15:13, Matthew 21:12-13, Luke 23:27-28

  Covenant of commitment to end gun violence

Give

Support MCC's peace programming around the world

Current MCC peace projects addressing gun violence:

Advocate for change

Federal legislation

Large capacity magazines can hold 30, 50, or even 100 rounds. Firepower of this kind has little-to-no sporting or defense use, but is often used in shootings which injure or kill many people in seconds before the shooter needs to reload. Large capacity ammunition magazines were used at Columbine to kill 13, at Virginia Tech to kill 32, at Fort Hood to kill 13, and in Tucson to kill 6 and wound another 13.

Legislation has been introduced in Congress to ban the manufacturing and selling of high capacity ammunition magazines (H.R.308, S.32). While we continue to pray for the families and friends of those who have died due to gun violence, we must also work to stop the flow of this military-grade weapon into schools, gatherings and streets. Call or email your members of Congress today and urge them to cosponsor these bills.

State-level advocacy

Trace the Guns shows the movement of crime guns in America and provides information on state-level laws.

Grassroots action

Become a Partner Faith Community of Heeding God's Call: Inspiring Hope, Raising Voices, Taking Action to End Gun Violence and join a coalition of religious groups comprised of urban, suburban, rural congregations from all religions and denominations to reduce gun violence.