June 10 will mark the fourth anniversary of what has come to be known as “Project Silhouette,” a movement to highlight the number of deaths by firearms in the United States.
Perhaps you have seen the large yard signs with changeable numbers which tally the weekly death toll in the country. When you tally the number of deaths from suicides, malicious shootings, law enforcement shootings and accidental shootings over these four years the total approaches 160,000 men, women and children.
Friends, there is a war going on in our streets and homes. And so many of the dead are children.
What have I/we learned from this effort? When the project was conceived people were wringing their hands and shaking their heads at the carnage but said, “But what can I do?”
The first lesson is there is always something you can do … always. You can lobby for safe storage laws, for sensible gun control, and gun owner education. You can vote for those candidates who have the courage to hold gun manufacturers and merchants accountable to produce firearms designed for personal use, not the battlefield; firearms which are sold to individuals who are properly vetted. And in the end, you can call attention to the impact of the growing numbers and, perhaps, say a prayer for reduced violence on our streets.
The second lesson we have learned is that as we join with other like-minded people in calling attention to this battle going on in our country, we can make progress. Look at gunviolenearchive.com and you will find a wealth of information about where the deaths occur and you will see, that year over year, we are saving more and more lives. This is most encouraging.
Gun signs are available to the public through the Stark County Interfaith Coalition at www.interfaithcoalitionstark.org.
Rabbi John Spitzer, Canton
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Project Silhouette highlights gun deaths in US | Letter
Reporting by The Repository / The Repository
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By The Repository | USA TODAY Network
