Gun buyback success
Homewood church makes a difference
When it comes to dealing with the national epidemic of gun violence, the usual lament is that “nothing can be done.” Too many guns. Too powerful opponents of gun control. Too little political will.
Then you hear the story of the remarkably successful gun buyback program at a Homewood church, proving that with community support, something can certainly be done.
The Episcopal Church of the Holy Cross tied the buyback program to Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a nod to the late civil rights leader’s call for change through nonviolent action. With a budget of $5,000, church officials hoped to get at least 100 guns off the streets, a goal suggested by police, although even police were skeptical it would be met.
In less than an hour, the budgeted amount was gone as community members brought in dozens of firearms. Another $1,500 in donations was received in the last few hours for additional buybacks. Some turned over guns without even asking for payment.
By 3 p.m., the church had collected 148 weapons — 104 handguns and 44 rifles or shotguns, including two assault-style rifles. The guns will be turned over to city police for processing and then be destroyed.
For church leaders, it was affirmation of the community’s desire to end gun violence in a neighborhood that has seen far too much of it. Just a few months ago, a shooting outside the church left two people dead. Something clearly needed to be done.
The gun buyback program may have been a modest effort in tackling the issue of gun violence, but it showed that there are things communities can do, even if the cry for gun reform falls on deaf ears in Harrisburg and Washington.
On the same day the Homewood church encouraged people to give up their guns, tens of thousands of gunrights activists — many of them carrying weapons — gathered in Richmond, Va., to protest gun control measures under consideration by the Virginia Legislature. Among the proposals expected to be passed in the state are universal background checks and a limit of one handgun purchase per month.
The protest aside, most Americans support stricter gun-control laws. A Pew Research Center survey in September found that 60% favored tougher gun laws and 91% supported stronger background checks.
Still, such measures get little support and virtually no chance of passage in Congress, mainly thanks to Senate leaders — particularly Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. — who refuse to allow such bills to come to the floor for debate and a vote.
So change must happen from the bottom up, and it can. That’s where efforts such as those by the Episcopal Church of the Holy Cross offer hope. Americans have made it clear that gun violence must be addressed — and communities can find ways to do something about it.