Showing posts with label guns. Show all posts
Showing posts with label guns. Show all posts

Friday, May 27, 2022

Values clarification - guns

 Values clarification processes have been around since the 1970s and is considered a three step process: choosing, prizing, and acting.

 

Would you want to own a gun when guns are used less than 1% of the time for self defense yet increase the risk of a gun death of an intimate other by as much as 50% over a 5 year period from the gun introduction?

Yes

No

Maybe

 

Would you purchase a gun if you knew that owning a gun puts you at greater risk for injury and death from a gun?

Yes

No 

Maybe

 

Is the purchase of assault rifles by 18 year olds appropriate based on the 2nd amendment of the constitution?

Yes

No 

Maybe


Thursday, May 23, 2019

UU A Way Of Life supports the New Yorkers Against Gun Violence.

UU A Way Of Life ministries supports New Yorkers Against Gun Violence. We sponsored a youth to go to the Youth Advocacy Day in Albany, NY on 05/07/19. For more click here.



The second principle of Unitarian Univeralism is to covenant together to affirm and promote justice, equity, and compassion in human relations.

Monday, February 4, 2019

UU A Way Of Life ministries index - People shot in the U.S. in January, 2019

UU A Way Of Life ministries index will appear on Mondays.




  • Number of people shot in the U.S. in January of 2019 = 3,321
  • Number of people shot fatally in U.S. in January of 2019 = 1,211
  • Number of fatally shot people in the U.S. in January of 2019 under 18 years old = 248


Source  - Gun Violence Archive

Saturday, January 12, 2019

UU A Way Of Life ministries index - increase in rate in gun suicides


  • The rate of increase in gun sucides in the U.S. since 2008 = 22%
  • The rate of increase in gun suicides in the U.S. by those who own guns since 2008 = 3x


Source: Bloomberg, com as reported in The Week, January 11, 2019, p.16

Sunday, November 4, 2018

UU A Way Of Life ministries index - Percentage of Americans sho favor stricter gun control



  • Percentage of of Americans in October, 2018  favor stricter gun control - 61%, 
  • Percentage of Americans in March, 2017 after Parkland School shooting who favored stricter gun control - 67% 
  • Percentage 87% of Democrats in October, 2018 - 87%
  • Percentage of Republicans in October, 2018 - 31%
  • Percentage of Americans support a handgun ban - 28%


For more information click here.

Saturday, November 3, 2018

UU A Way Of Life ministries index - Percentage of Americans who favor a ban on assault rifles



  • Percentage of Americans who oppose banning assualt rifles - 57%
  • Percentage of Americans who favor a ban - 40%
  • Percentage of Democrats who favor a ban = 56%
  • Percentage of Republicans who favor a ban - 25%
  • Percentage of Unitarian Universalists who favor a ban -?

For more information click here.


Sunday, October 28, 2018

What will it take to end the mass shootings?


Stephen King's first chapter in his little book, Guns, is entitled "The Shake." He outlines the 22 predictable steps we go through in America when there has been a mass shooting. It is so predictable that the violence has become banal.

Mass shootings are great for the NRA and the gun stores because gun sales will go up, and its great for the cable news networks because viewership goes up, and its great for people who like drama because the news and views are very emotionally arousing until one just becomes calloused and is no longer moved because it is so familiar.

The current mass shooting in Pittsburg at the synogogue on 10/27/18 should come as no surprise, and the perpetrator, a 46 year old white male, whose existential pain has been channeled toward a convenient scapegoat, comes from central casting. Robert Bowers, 46,  killed 11 people, 8 men and 3 women all over 54 and most in their 70s, 80s, and 90s.

There will be much kvetching over this incident, but, as Stephen King points out in his book Guns, nothing will be done by government officials who take their instructions from the NRA and the voters who elect them to office.

Three things will change this common scenario in American society: a change in norms and values, a decrease in access to guns, and better laws and regulations governing the possession and handling of firearms among the public. The later two conditions will not be met without a significant change in the first.

It is in changing the norms and attidudes of our society and communities that Unitarian Univeralists come in. We can be the yeast in the dough. With what norm and attitude do we start? Perhaps it is best if we start with the first - the inherent worth and dignity of every person. This means we must fight the racism, the xenophobia, the mysogony of Trumpism.

Unitarian Univeralistis believe in the value of diversity and inclusion. Have you shared this idea with your family and neighbors? If we can open our hearts in love, perhaps this will be an example for the world.

Until we change the norms and attitudes in our society there will be more Robert Bowers and more Cesar Sayocs.
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