Gun Violence

By Jan Orr-Harter

With resounding support, the Report 11-06, "Gun Violence, Gospel Values," passed in the final Assembly vote by a show of hands. PPF has supported this, and through PPF National Committee member Jim Atwood, played a critical role. The General Assembly News reported that Rev. Catherine Snyder, Presbyterian Campus minister at Virginia Tech, wept openly as the committee passed the report. Snyder counseled and consoled students and families following the horrific handgun murders committed there by a disturbed student, killing 32 persons in 2007.

By Jan Orr-Harter

The committees have all finished their deliberations and have forwarded their proposals to the GA plenary for final votes.

We have invited several outstanding peace leaders to join us at the PPF Booth in the exhibit hall during the week. Please come meet them and join the discussion!

PPF has compiled an analysis of peace related overtures before this year's General Assembly.

Click here to download the Briefing Document

by Leslie Scanlon
Presbyterian Outlook

Presbyterian minister James Atwood knows what it’s like to be shut down on the issue of gun violence.

A while back, while visiting a congregation in a community with multiple victims of a mass shooting, Atwood raised the question of how churches can get involved. “We shouldn’t be talking about that here,” one man responded hotly. “That’s a political issue, and it’s not appropriate for the church.”

That question – exactly how the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) should respond to the gun violence that claims 30,000 lives a year in the United States – will be put directly to the 219th General Assembly when it meets in Minneapolis in July. The Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy (ACSWP) is asking the assembly to consider a 20-page report from a study group that “challenges our society’s fatalism and numbness in accepting the highest gun death rates in the world.”

A great video of a great event!

Thank you to Andrew Patterson for his wonderful videography work!

The Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy (ACSWP) has included in its recommendations a resolution on Gun Violence, Gospel Values: Mobilizing in Response to God’s Call.

Click here to read the full resolution

by Jim Atwood