guns
After my friend’s suicide, my theology was in shock
I’ve been offering my tangled knots of questions and memories as prayers.
The Second Amendment has been shaped into an altar
Cowardly politicians sacrifice the helpless upon it.
It’s time to end our national love affair with guns
Breaking America’s fetish for lethal weapons
Why are rural white Americans willing to prioritize cultural whiteness above all else?
Jonathan Metzl offers useful data and analysis, if not much empathy.
Church security and the risks of hospitality
My church has Fort Knox-level safety protocols. Why?
Why and how we beat guns into garden tools
RAWtools began with a blacksmith and a friend’s donated AK-47.
Ten true stories about guns in America
A gun shaped like a phone. A Hello Kitty rifle. Cities that require you to own a gun.
The Second Amendment is racist at its root
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz's social history highlights who's at the other end of the barrel.
A Texas church's real talk about guns
What do our baptismal vows have to do with safety?
Talking about guns in the Texas Panhandle
It’s damnable that any reflection on American gun violence is quickly out of date. I was in Texas when the October 1 shooting occurred in Roseburg, Oregon, leaving 10 dead including the gunman. I was revising an article provoked by that shooting when 14 were shot dead December 2 in San Bernardino, California. Now there are two statistics I can’t get out of my mind: first, mass shootings (resulting in four or more deaths) occur at a rate of more than one a day in the United States. Second, more American gun deaths have occurred since 1970 than American war deaths since 1775.
This is insane. What’s wrong?
Falwell's damage and our response
I, like many people of faith, am reeling from Jerry Falwell Jr.’s proclamations to his student body. Falwell encouraged the students of Liberty University (there are more than 100,000 of them) to arm themselves against Muslim terrorists.
His rhetoric reminded me of a bumper sticker I see here in Tennessee: “Only a good guy with a gun can stop a bad guy with a gun.”
The road to Heller
Michael Waldman traces the Second Amendment's life, from militias to the NRA to the newfound right to have handguns at home.
Sinner-saints with guns
In the wake of the shootings in Las Vegas—in which bystander Joseph Robert Wilcox tried to take a shooter out and instead was himself shot and killed—Adam Weinstein offers a very thoughtful take on the notion of being a "good guy with a gun." A veteran and a gun owner, Weinstein describes himself as "one of those wannabe heroes"—but also details his growing doubts.
Waco in red and blue
In April 1993, the FBI siege on the Branch Davidian compound ended in disaster. The event still casts a long shadow on our divided nation.
Terror and guns
Three people died in the attack on the Boston Marathon. That same day, 11 Americans were murdered by guns.