Faith Works 6-3-22

Faith Works 6-3-22
Jeff Gill

A change of subject
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Recently I'd been talking in this space about race, and how we discuss racism both as public and private issues.

I'm certainly not done with that subject, because I don't believe we are anywhere near done with it as a community. My hope is to add more opportunities for us to work on mutual understanding and increase conversations about this difficult topic.

But hey, let's stop for a moment talking about race and consider for a moment guns. Good transition? No?

Did you hear, though, about the mass shootings last weekend? No, not that one, the other ones.

No matter which you were thinking of, there's a hatful of others I could have meant. In our most recent fusillade of firearms being discharged at people in schools, parks, malls, and other public places, we had over the Memorial Day weekend eight people killed and 55 more injured in a dozen mass shooting events, as defined by GunViolenceArchive.org, which calls any incident where four or more people are hurt or killed by gunfire (not counting the shooter) as a "mass shooting." Since the Uvalde school shooting, not just the weekend, through Memorial Day, it's eleven killed, 67 injured; as we all know now, in Robb Elementary there were 22 killed, 17 injured.

And the day before Uvalde, five were wounded in a mass shooting in Cleveland. This past weekend in Columbus a person was found shot on the Statehouse grounds; they look to be the 51st homicide in our state capital this year.

I will confess: many ideas occur to me. Some are practical, some are political, and a few are just plain angry. Speaking pastorally, which is my impulse whether I'm serving a particular congregation or not, I am acutely aware of the strong feelings in our community and county, let alone nationally, around where and how one speaks about the issue of guns.

What I am certain I can say with complete confidence, both as a minister of the Gospel and as a voice in our area, is this: gun owners, you must secure your firearms. Now. Please. You must do this.

In Ohio, as I understand this, a seller must offer a locking or securing mechanism. That's it. There are no state laws about how you secure your private, personal firearms. If you have a weapon in your car, there are laws about the how and where I won't try to summarize (reminder: I am not a lawyer), but as best as I can tell, and I've asked quite a few law enforcement and official people, there are no laws about how you must secure firearms in your home.

For those who know me, this is less obscure than it might be to everyone else, but I am in a great many homes in an average year. Not often much past the entryway, which is part of the point I want to make, usually in a doorway, but from there, I see quite few living spaces, often where children reside.

Readers, I have gotten altogether too accustomed to seeing unsecured firearms in people's living rooms and kitchens and mud rooms. Handguns, rifles, shotguns. Just sitting out. It's not a strange sight to me.

What I am in the habit of doing, though, is to ask politely, as courteously as I can while being clear and emphatic: you must secure your firearms. Especially if young people are regularly in your house. Please, do it now.

Since I ask nicely, I often end up in conversations. That helps, but I will admit is discouraging at times. Often the reply is "that's usually locked up." Okay, well, just be more careful. (Hmmm.) But usually it's "doesn't do me any good if it's locked in a cabinet in the backroom." So we talk about security and where it could be placed, and how. I don't make much headway.

That's my contribution to an admittedly complicated subject. Gun owners, whom I know to be very on edge about the possibility of losing their rights around firearms: secure them, please. Especially if young people are able to gain access to those weapons. Because whatever else I might think, I am certain that if we let casual access continue, we will see more tragedies, and ultimately, those rights will be called into question.

It's not the only way to keep firearms out of the hands of those who shouldn't have them, but it's one we can all agree on. Take care, please.


Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and preacher around central Ohio; he owns guns and knows how to operate and secure them. Tell him how you think about security at knapsack77@gmail.com, or follow @Knapsack on Twitter.