RESPONSE TO ANGRY REPLIES I have received several angry replies to my “Stomping Stand Your Ground” blog. The writers deserve a response. One writer called the blog “shameful and disgusting…politically motivated crap. If my church supported this, I would be looking for a…

STOMPING STAND YOUR GROUND The Minnesota Committee on Public Safety conducted a hearing with a Stand your Ground Bill (HF-238) on the agenda for discussion and vote. At the discretion of the Chairman, Tony “Wyatt Earp” Cornish, discussion did not happen but a…

DIVING DEEP ON DANGEROUS BILLS As commented in a previous blog, two dangerous bills are being presented for House legislative action: Permit to Carry and Stand Your Ground. Why are these bills dangerous? 1. According to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, 1.8%…

INFORMED AND EMPOWERED seem appropriate actions to Trump’s signing a law making it easier for mentally ill people to purchase guns, and for the Minnesota House working to pass an omnibus bill which includes Permitless Carry and Stand Your Ground Bills. All of…

IT’S SO EASY! Along with many, I wore an orange t-shirt (over my clergy shirt) to a public hearing at the Minnesota State Capitol as a colorful sign of opposition to two gun bills that were being introduced. The first was a Permitless…

DEARLY BELOVED The lead song in “Prince, the Revolution” is “Let’s Go Crazy!” The first line is: “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to get through this thing called life.” In this challenging time of alt-right, white power, fear-filled, authoritarian nationalism, any…

THE BLESSING AND THE INDICTMENT Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:1-12 contains a BLESSING and an INDICTMENT of President Trump’s gun violence positions. As stated in THE TRACE article of 19 October 2016, Trump supports: 1) Opposition to universal background checks;…

DANGEROUS BILLS To quote Rev. Nancy Nord Bence, Executive Director of Protect Minnesota, ” “The Permitless Carry and stand your ground (SYG) bills introduced yesterday in the state legislature represent the most extreme views of the gun lobby, not the moderate views of…

REFUSE AND CHOOSE Isaiah 7:15-16 twice includes the phrase, “refuse the evil and choose the good.” I find these words fitting for gun violence prevention (GVP) action. The verbs “refuse” and “choose” are powered by personal decision. As Helmut Thielecke expressed in his…

THE COST OF ARROGANCE: I submit that arrogance is a major contributor to gun violence, the rise of White Nationalism and the election of Donald Trump. In his confession after killing nine African-Americans, with a .45 calibre handgun at the Mother Immanuel AME…