We’ve been hearing a lot about guns lately, as we slide towards the deadline for campus carry.

I won’t surprise anyone by naming the problems: the gaping loopholes in gun sale laws; the influence of the NRA that has blocked not only extreme gun control, but mild regulations which even most members of the NRA support; the refusal by Congress to allow data collection about the public health cost of guns; the unwillingness of elected leaders to listen even to law enforcement for guidance in gun regulations; the fear-mongering that shoots up the purchase of ammunition; the Wild West attitudes, cultivated by media and blessed by the religious right; the arguments that are on their face, completely untrue, and perhaps, not even believed by the people who spout them. Let’s face it, if having lots of guns really stopped bad guys, the Chicago murder rate would be declining instead of soaring. I suspect that some gun advocates don’t care about those rates, as long as they are restricted to “urban” areas and “gang” warfare. They lose track of the children caught in the crossfire, and the deterioration of community that does affect us all because we are all interconnected.

I suspect that the majority of UU’s support common sense gun regulation. Certainly, some UU’s are hunters and target shooters. I have attended UU ministers’ retreats where one of the optional activities was skeet shooting. We’re not all pacifists. And we’re not all anti-gun.

However, we do support the use of reason in all our deliberations. Blocking the government from legitimate research is not reasonable. Allowing senseless deaths through accidents and suicides because of overly accessible guns is not reasonable. Allowing guns anywhere, anytime, to anyone, though it is increasingly the policy across the country, is completely unreasonable.

I don’t know the proper response to campus carry. Certainly, the attempts to delay or change the law are not only legitimate, but necessary. Rev. Sarah Oglesby Dunegan in Topeka and Kansas Interfaith Action, as well as Kansans Against Campus Carry, have helped make the case at the legislature. I’ve heard various ideas for resisting the law. I hope that rational solutions emerge, and that our UU voices contribute to the conversation.

In Faith and Freedom,

Jonalu