As to be expected, the conversation about gun legislation is being raised in the aftermath of the shooting in Aurora, Colo. Sen. Chuck Schumer, who has supported a ban on assault weapons, has challenged citizens to speak up.
It is time to move from the discussion and argument about the constitutionality of gun-ownership, control and legislation to the question of what is acceptable in a moral society. Is it the mark of a moral society to allow the sale of assault weapons, weapons for which the sole purpose is not the sport of the hunt but, rather, the death of human beings? Do we want to live in a society that allows the sale of these weapons?
Will we continue to allow the National Rifle Association to short-circuit the moral standards of our society? Is it moral for our elected representatives to cave in to the NRA out of fear of its political power?
Should not the congressmen and women who allowed the expiration of the 1994 law that prohibited the sale of assault weapons now agonize over whether this tragedy may have been averted had they acted in 2004 to renew that law?
I challenge the leaders of all faith traditions to take a stand against the NRA, to exercise leadership even at the expense of angering those who support the NRA, and to encourage legislators who are willing to stand firm against the immoral practice that allows the sale of assault weapons.
REV. DR. JOSEPH W. SHOOK
Albany