Sunday, September 30, 2018

It's always time.

It was the middle of the night when the annoying noise began. Through my bleary eyes I peered into the living room at the source of the sound. It was our fire alarm. Something was making it chirp. I staggered toward the closet for the step ladder so I could reset the alarm. I knew there was no fire. It was that relentless peeping these safety devices make when it's time to change a battery.

Every fall, when we set back clocks to standard time, it's tradition to replace the battery in all smoke alarms. This is a simple, affordable safety practice to increase the likelihood we'll get a reliable, unmistakable alert when a house fire occurs.

Why not take the same approach to firearms safety?  Standard time resumes at 2 a.m. on Sunday, November 2018. Those who own weapons could make sure they're secure to prevent accidental shootings and deaths. In fact, why not double check when we spring forward to daylight savings time in March, too.  And repeat the process every fall and spring.

The esteemed Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, CHOP, has a research institute that has captured alarming safety data. CHOP says there are about 393 million firearms in the U.S. That's about 120 guns for every 100 people. Some 1.7 million kids live in a home with unlocked, loaded weapons. One out of three homes with kids have guns. Here are three eye-opening stats CHOP reports:

An emergency department visit for non-fatal assault injury make a youth 40% more likely for another firearm injury.

Those who die of accidental shootings were more than three times as likely to have a firearm in their homes.

Almost 90% of accidental shooting deaths among children occur in the home. Most of these happen because kids play with guns when parents aren't looking or aren't around.

Annually about 33,000 Americans die due to firearm injuries. Two-thirds of those are suicides. Law enforcement sources estimate about four times as many people, or over 120,000 per year, are injured by guns and survive. I've seen some sources that put accidental injuries at more than 70,000 annually.

Now imagine a gun that chirped when the safety was off or the lock wasn't engaged. Or a gun safe that chimed when security was compromised. Tech companies offer alarm devices you can use to arm any type of safe. And yes, you have to change the batteries.

One of the "wisdom books" in the good book says, "There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens." (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

A word to the wise is sufficient. It's time to pay attention to gun safety or it will be a time to mourn.



Sunday, September 23, 2018

Praying in the blur.

This has been a busy news week.

So much buzz, I've had a hard time keeping track of it all, not to mention the stack of political stories. Two mass shootings, one in Wisconsin, one in Maryland. One cop facing trial in Dallas for killing her neighbor in his own apartment, which the accused officer says she mistook for her own. Another veteran police officer on trial in Chicago on charges of first-degree murder. He allegedly, unnecessarily shot a suspect 16 times, killing him in the street. That shooting was captured on police video and has played everywhere.

Visit the Web site of any local TV or radio news station or big city daily paper and you will find headlines like:

"21-year-old killed in shooting at Fort Worth party"

"1 killed, thirteen wounded in city (Chicago) shootings"

"Man, 64, shot in foot in Michigan Avenue (Detroit) drive-by"

Day after day, local media turns the valve on an endless stream of carnage from coast to coast. A good friend and former major-market TV anchor told me the marching orders at her last gig were to report just two things "weather and crime in your neighborhood." Animated storm graphics and police blotter are cheap and easy to report. You send a lone photographer out to capture the shots of the house and the yellow crime scene tape. The news anchor yacks over it or your reporter writes a few inches of copy. Done. Roll your two minutes of commercials or run the full-page ad adjacent to the blood and guts.

According the Associated Press, Chicago police officer, Jason Van Dyke, told the Chicago Tribune he prayed daily for the family of the man he shot, teenager Laquan McDonald. If convicted, Van Dyke is facing the potential of spending the rest of his life in prison. McDonald has been dead since 2014.

Both families of the officer and the deceased wait tonight as Van Dykes' defense team opens its case  tomorrow. The victims' families in Wisconsin and Maryland will endure the funeral and burial process. The shooters who attacked their coworkers in both states are now dead. Both suffered from mental illness. Their families and friends are in indescribable pain, as are those who lost their loved ones to the heinous mayhem.

When we line up to argue for and against firearms in our national  debate, how many of us stop to think about all those suffering in the crossfire? Those whose child or brother went on a crazed rampage and slaughtered coworkers? Those who sit in jail cells awaiting trials for the unspeakable? Those who were randomly hit by stray bullets? Those who never came home from a party? Those who shot a friend because they had too much to drink or lost too much in a card game? Those who saw it happen?

Who prays for the vilified? Or the father who forgot to lock up his handgun? The one his child used to shoot a friend.

In the blur of gunfire and all the news stories, so many are wounded. And we all need to pray for them -- all of them.





Sunday, September 16, 2018

Intense love

You are surrounded by two ferocious intruders.

At your front door is a hurricane. At your side is a typhoon. Only one weapon can protect you from these forces that defy human control.

Love.

St. Peter, the guy Jesus nicknamed, "Rock," said this, "Let your love for one another be intense, because love covers a multitude of sins." (1 Peter 4:8) You may have heard it translated as "because love conquers all."

Some reports describe the flooding in America's Carolinas as "biblical." Landslides are burying people in the Philippines. And we're still waiting for the storm waters to stop rising so the full force of the rescues can begin.

Mother Nature can be as lethal as she is majestically magnificent and mesmerizing. Her powerful expressions are universally humbling and make even the most fearless tremble and beg her for peace.

It takes courage to love those we don't know as if they were family. Yet, over the coming weeks, quiet heroes will battle the impacts of disaster and comfort thousands who have lost everything. Victims will be left without understanding. Brought to their knees. Powerless.

There is always someone in our circle of family, friends or acquaintances who is battling a storm, submerged in despair. It is up to us to wield the only weapon that works.


Sunday, September 9, 2018

Leftover firepower for sale

"The Bible justifies the right to bear arms!"

That's what a couple work colleagues told me many years ago. I was intrigued. Not so much by chapter and verse, because I've seen many manipulations of scripture. But I wanted to understand what they really meant.

"Does that include tanks, bazookas, and RPGs? What about nuclear weapons?" I asked.

One of the guys said, "Yes, there's no limit."

For those concerned about the proliferation of military assault weapons in the hands of civilians, this is sobering. But there's a broad spectrum of thought on the Second Amendment and its meaning. And there is a vast variety of influences in the debate. These include enormous sources of revenue from firearms. All this is interlaced with the issue and the long standing tradition of gun ownership, marksmanship and defense, both personal and national.

For example, this week, Bloomberg ran a story on a little known organization that is wealthier than the National Rifle Association (NRA). You can read the expansive story here about the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) that dates back to President Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-09-04/this-group-teaches-kids-to-love-guns-and-taxpayers-foot-bill

Roosevelt was concerned that American citizens, if drafted to fight in a war, might not know how to wield weapons. That was the purpose of the CMP. To train civilians. Of course, during the Spanish-American War, we didn't have the mammoth "big stick" defense budget we have today and massive corp of troops, sailors, airmen and marines.

By the end of the 20th century, Uncle Sam declared the CMP obsolete. Congress didn't agree. So, among the other surprises you'll discover Bloomberg's piece is this one: the U.S. armed forces sells surplus weapons through a private, non-profit that promotes guns and gun safety to youth. This non-profit earns hundreds of millions of dollars from the sale of leftover military firearms, some to collectors. The recent defense spending bill authorized the delivery of 18,000 M1911 pistols to the CMP over the next couple years. The premise is, the sale of the weapons cache saves the U.S. the cost of storing them. Turns out, the warehousing is less than a buck a year per pistol, much less. After refurb, the non-profit expects to sell them to the public for $850 to $1,050 per pistol. Their cost, the price of shipping the weapons. That's it. Buyers are already lining up, so if you want an M1911 this fall, you'll have lots of competition. CMP could earn $18 million from the refreshed military sidearms. That's a pretty nice non-profit. CMP is sitting on a quarter-billion in assets.

Not sure where this process is covered in the Bible, or for that matter the Constitution. But in the tug-of-war over America's gun culture, follow the money.



Sunday, September 2, 2018

Praying for a second chance

"Nothing stops a bullet like a job!"

Those are the words of Greg Boyle, SJ, a Jesuit priest and founder of Homeboy Industries of Los Angeles. The organization's Web site says it's "the largest gang intervention, rehabilitation, and re-entry program in the world."

Through a similar program in Chicago, founded by Catholic priests,  I've met former gang members, who committed serious, violent crimes as juveniles. They have each spent more than a decade in prison. Now, they are again living in the community and compassionately working to show teens and young adults how to avoid incarceration. They're dedicated to accompanying those they mentor and help them find employment.

Because it is a job and the dignity of work that allows each of us to feel that we're contributing. Working shapes our self worth and sense of belonging. It requires us to selflessly give of ourselves and our valuable time to help carry the load. The lifting we do impacts our families, the lives of those we love, and even total strangers. In exchange, we receive a wage. We are created to feel the value of work. To earn. To be acknowledged for our contribution to something greater than ourselves.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

But if you've got a police record, especially for an act of aggression, finding a paying situation can be especially challenging. Even employers that are felony friendly often reject those who have been convicted of assault.

On this Labor Day weekend, when we honor our neighbors and fellow citizens who do the work that sustains our communities, know there a many who are praying for a second chance.

"Nothing stops a bullet like a job!"