This morning I awoke to anxiety and anguish that 89 more people were killed by guns in accidental, homicidal, and suicidal violence in the last 24 hours. These individuals are nameless and faceless to me, but they are loved by someone.
Every 24 hours, the cycle repeats itself. And this pains me.
The victims of gun violence will not be forgotten. Help get guns out of the wrong hands (petition).
I prayed that I would find enough calm and forethought to do something about the endless cycle of preventable death in our country because those who have the power to do something about it don’t. They simply won’t.
My prayer must have been answered because I found myself with enough resolve and patience to sift through the twitter feed and youtube videos of House Speaker Paul Ryan. Not an easy or enjoyable thing to do, but necessary.
Instead of allowing debate on the floor of the house, Ryan prevented a bill called The Gun Violence Research Act from being heard. He believes that prayer is enough and attacked critics who say prayer isn't an adequate response to mass shootings.
"The attitude in some quarters these days is, 'Don't just pray; do something about it,"' Ryan said at the annual National Prayer Breakfast following the December 2nd shooting in San Bernardino. "The thing is, when you are praying, you are doing something about it. You are revealing the presence of God.”
...revealing the presence of G-d… resounds in my mind. It connects me to my spiritual beliefs, but in a vastly different way than it connects Ryan to his.
“(T)here is nothing more comforting — or more humbling, really — than to hear someone say, ‘I’m praying for you.’ Because when you hear that, you realize you’re not alone. God is there. And hundreds, if not thousands, if not millions, of people are all speaking to him on your behalf,” the speaker said.
Of course, there is value in this — when taken out of the context of defending the Republican’s do-nothing but prayer approach to gun violence.
As I said in my first ever rant on a blog site, prayers are an affront to G-d and humanity when offered after the fact for something preventable. We must first do the work to prevent the tragic from occurring before providing ourselves the sanctity and righteousness found in prayer.
The truth is that pressure has been building in Washington to over turn an NRA backed bill that barred federal research on gun violence for close to 20 years and the writer of that bill, former Rep. Jay Dickey (R-Ark.) wants it overturned. His law ordered the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention never to fund research that could be seen as advocacy for gun control. From Mother Jones:
Dickey wrote that the lack of research by the NIH and the CDC had resulted in a troubling information gap: "US scientists cannot answer the most basic question: What works to prevent firearm injuries? We don’t know whether having more citizens carry guns would decrease or increase firearm deaths; or whether firearm registration and licensing would make inner-city residents safer or expose them to greater harm."
Dickey joined 2000 physicians from Doctors for America, The Brady Campaign, and Congressman Mike Honda to call on Congress to return funding to the CDC to investigate gun violence as the public health issue it is.
According to Congressman Honda, Ryan refused:
For the last several months, I have been working to overturn the ban on government research of gun violence. It is impossible to adequately deal with this epidemic without scientific and objective research into the causes of gun violence, and Congress needs to act.
However, the House Republicans have been blocking my bill on behalf of the gun lobby. Just yesterday, they prevented House Democrats like myself from even discussing the bill on the House floor. What are the Republicans and the National Rifle Association afraid of learning?
Don’t stand idly by. Help prevent gun violence by ending the ban on research by the CDC. It worked for food poisoning and seat belts. Don’t allow the NRA to put their motives ahead of public health and safety. And don’t allow NRA backed Republicans have the last word!
END THE BAN ON GUN VIOLENCE RESEARCH
Sign the petition to demand Paul Ryan and the House Republicans allow a vote ASAP to remove the ban on gun violence research in the United States.
”We believe our rights come from God, and our job, as officeholders, is to protect those rights,” Ryan said.
No. your job, Speaker Ryan, is to represent the will of the people. Over 90% of us want gun violence prevention measures enacted at the federal level. Hence, my challenge.
"Prayer works only if it softens the hardened heart and opens it to the message of healing and justice that flows through Scripture. Prayer works only if it leads to contrition and repentance. Prayer works only if it is not an excuse for self-justification... The problem is guns. Guns, guns, guns. And the answer not thoughts and prayers. From anyone.”
~Rabbi Jack Moline