DON'T LET THIS MOMENT PASS US BY AGAIN

What a country!

How many times?  How many deaths?  Columbine, Virginia Tech, Tucson, Aurora, Newtown; the 2,519 gun deaths since Sandy Hook; the 30,000 every year; the trail of blood in Chicago, Richmond and Oakland.  And, once again, we sit in stunned silence as our elected officials ignore our wishes, wait us out, and now, as the item below illustrates, run away as fast as they can from any meaningful action to control the 300 million guns in our country.      

Witness, the AR-15 wielding senator from South Carolina who declares "there will be no assault weapons ban," his Oklahoma colleague who seeks to gut the expansion of background checks, Harry Reid who caves to the NRA, and the fading hopes that anything meaningful will make it through the House.

Against this background, the Episcopal Church's House of Bishops said March 12 that they are "outraged" by the "daily massacre of our young people in [our] cities," adding "this carnage must stop"  and calling all Episcopalians "to pray and work for the end of gun violence."

Well, this Episcopalian has prayed.  Let me now work and ask you all to call your congressmen and senators and Mike Thompson (202-225-3311), chair of the congressional task force on gun violence, and tell them we need a ban on assault weapons and large ammo clips and meaningful background checks that include a permanent data base.

 

Don't let this moment pass us by again.

 

March 22, 2013