My kids didn’t learn about the Uvalde shooting until Sept. 6, the first day Uvalde students went back to school after a gunman entered Robb Elementary and murdered 19 fourth graders and two teachers. Even though I’d spent the summer reporting, driving the 90 miles back and forth for interviews, protests and church services, I Read more
Gun control in New Zealand mightn’t be as firm as some might think. There are a million guns somewhere and nobody knows where most of them are or who has them. Despite significant progress in banning some kinds of firearms and confiscating others, New Zealand still has no gun registry. “We might be east of Read more
Contrary to what you may sometimes hear, school shootings are not unique to the United States. Germany, for instance, went through a string of devastating attacks between 2002 and 2009. Between 1996 and 2008, major school shootings also occurred in Finland and Scotland, among other places. But in Europe, there hasn’t been a major high-casualty Read more
Taking guns to church has been approved in Arkansas with the passage of a law allowing individual religious leaders to decide if concealed weapons should be allowed in their places of worship. The Church Protection Act passed the Senate with a 28-4 vote and the House of Representatives with an even more decisive 85-8 vote. Read more
Like the rest of the country, I was horrified to hear of the massacre at the midnight screening of the new Batman film. I’ve witnessed gun violence firsthand from a very early age. All my life, I’ve seen families mourning the way that the families in Colorado are now mourning. I wish there was something Read more
While people flock to churches to pray and gather in public spaces to console each other after the Batman massacre, some voices are being raised saying prayer is not a sufficient response; change is needed. At Queen of Peace Catholic Church in Aurora, Denver, where nearly 1,500 people gathered to remember parishioner A.J. Boik, who Read more