Faith leaders hold rally and pray at Rhode Island State House in support of assault weapons ban
"...may the divine bless us with enough foolishness to believe that we can make a difference in the world so that we can do what others claim cannot be done..."
The Rhode Island State Council of Churches gathered faith leaders from across Rhode Island on Thursday to rally for the full passage of H5436, legislation that prohibits the purchase of assault weapons. The legislation, which has passed in the House, now faces an uncertain future in the Senate. This is ironic, as the bill has enough sponsors to pass if a floor vote were held.
The Council of Churches released the following in their press release ahead of the rally:
“From 2015 to 2022, mass shootings with four or more people killed where large-capacity magazines were used resulted in nearly five times as many people shot, more than twice as many people killed, and almost 10 times as many people wounded per incident, on average. Additionally, at least eight of the ten deadliest mass shootings involved a large-capacity magazine.
“In that same time frame, mass shootings where an assault weapon was used led to nearly six times as many people shot, more than twice as many people killed, and 23 times as many people wounded on average compared to those without. Research shows banning assault weapons can reduce mass shooting deaths and stop active shooter attacks before they happen.”
Here’s the video:
Jeremy Langill: I’m the executive minister for the Rhode Island State Council of Churches, and we are so grateful that you are all out here with us this afternoon as we advocate for common-sense gun reform as people of faith.
Rev. Dr. Jamie Washam: I’m the pastor of the First Baptist Church in America and commissioner to the Rhode Island State Council of Churches to promote sensible gun legislation. In this nation and in this state in particular, we take seriously our freedoms, our freedoms for and our freedoms from, [but] fundamentally, which freedoms do we privilege and how? Which freedom matter more, the freedom to buy and sell, to profit from and to own a particular weapon, or the freedom to live without fear of assault by these weapons? Citizens of and visitors to Rhode Island should be able to expect freedom from gun violence in our state. As religious leaders, we are in the business of life, and we are present at and in the wake of death; we sit with people mourning loved ones and give structure to grief. So much suffering is beyond our control, but suffering due to gun violence is within our power to curb.
This is preventable grief. Shame on us if we do not do everything in our power to safeguard life and our freedom to live without the fear of assault. We accept limits on speech and freedom if they infringe upon the rights of others. The right to bear arms does not eclipse all other rights. We have the right to assault free places of worship, education, and recreation. Health and public safety do not come through further weaponization.
This is not about repealing the Second Amendment. All rights have constraints and limitations. Weapons infringe on our freedom. So, Senate President and Senate Majority Leader Frank Ciccone, we urge you to pass smart gun legislation this year. If you believe in this premise, do not wait for the problem to arise. Do not wait until a tragedy occurs before taking action. My church community has safety plans in place. We hold vigils to remember Columbine, Sandy Hook, Pulse Nightclub, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Tree of Life, Christ Church, and Uvalde, and I am weary of vigils and safety drills. It is insufficient.
Understand that I believe in prayer, and I know that transformation is possible. However, prayer does not only happen with folded hands and on bended knees, know that this gathering is an act of prayer. Today, in the presence of God, with all of you as witnesses, and in the spirit of Rabbi Heschel, we resolve to pray with our feet and make the changes necessary to answer those prayers. This session, bring this to a vote. The prophet Isaiah urged people to turn their weapons into garden tools, moving from a defensive mindset toward cultivating life. Do make plow shares out of swords and pruning hooks out of spears. The prophets understood that with enough heat, transformation happens. Weapons can be reshaped into garden tools, and people and rules can change.
Today, you may no longer claim that there is nothing you can do. There is work to be done, so get it done. We are here to work alongside you. We are united in our commitment to safeguarding every person in our state. We need common-sense gun safety legislation so that people feel safe. We’ll feel safe. God works through people, so it is time for us to get to work and answer some prayers. I don’t want to keep meeting my neighbors where we mourn more senseless violence and loss. Let’s make this the year when we bring it to a vote and get it done.
Rt. Rev. Nicholas Knisely, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Rhode Island: I come here as the bishop of Rhode Island, as a bishop of the Episcopal Church, and as a citizen of Rhode Island, to speak in support of legislation. It will finally restrict access to assault style weapons in our state. Last summer, at our general convention in Louisville, we passed a resolution. A resolution affirmed the church’s longstanding call for common-sense gun legislation, specifically naming the urgent need to ban the sale, transfer, and use of military style weapons designed not for hunting or sport, but for killing as many people as possible as quickly as possible. These are weapons of war, not peace. They are not tools for peace, and as Christians, we must speak frankly about the fear that drives some to purchase and stockpile these weapons. That is a narrative that is carefully marketed and often repeated, that tells us that we must love our neighbors and that only by arming ourselves with more and more deadly weapons can we truly be safe.
However, we know from faith, experience, and research that this is not true. The more we arm ourselves against one another, the less safe we all become. Scripture teaches us to love our neighbors, not to live in suspicion of them. And here in Rhode Island, we know something else. The large majority of our fellow citizens support sensible gun regulation. As Rhode Islanders, we support laws that protect our children, schools, churches, and all public spaces. We support legislation that respects the Second Amendment and that recognizes that, as we have said, rights come with responsibilities. This is not a fringe idea. This is the will of the majority of the people of our state. It does not make sense to wait for another tragedy to force our hands. We must act now out of courage, not out of fear; out of hope, not despair; out of love for our neighbors, not suspicion of them. Pass this legislation, protect our communities, and move forward toward a life of peace, not violence, that defines our common existence.
Rabbi Howard Voss-Altman: I serve as the Rabbi of Temple Habonim in Barrington. I’m here today to advocate for the passage of the assault weapons ban. In my first rabbinical position, way back in 1999, I was on the North Shore of Chicago. I lived in Highland Park, Illinois, which is right on the lake. My daughter, Emily, attended the temple’s preschool, and her teacher was a woman named Jacki Sundheim, a lifelong member of the congregation. Jackie was a sweet, loving, and generous teacher. When we left the temple to move to Canada in 2002, Jackie continued to work at the temple. Eventually, as the temple’s bar and bat mitzvah coordinator in 2022, Jackie got up early to participate in the park’s annual, very festive 4th of July parade. I remember going with our daughter Emily, who rode her tricycle, and our son Judith, watching from the perch of a baby backpack.
But in just a few terrifying seconds, life would never be the same. Standing on that sidewalk watching a parade she had been to dozens of times, Jackie was shot and killed. She and six other people were murdered, including both parents of a toddler who was found lying under a body. At the scene of the massacre, these seven innocent people were murdered, and 50 more were wounded by 21-year-old Robert Crimo III, who climbed up onto the roof of a building with an assault weapon, hung on, and started spraying bullets into the crowd. Jacki was a beloved wife, mother, grandmother, my congregant, a friend, and my daughter’s preschool teacher. Jacki will never see her children in their prime. She’ll never be called to bless the Torah at her grandchildren’s bar or bat mitzvah, let alone see them under the wedding canopy. Indeed, every Sundheim family gathering from the ordinary to the sacred will be cast in shadows, grief, regret, and longing. Genuine, carefree happiness is something they will never have again.
Jackie’s life was filled to the brim with meaning, significance, and growth in the original sense of the word, with more than 60 years of Jewish life in one community. Her death was tragic, empty, and meaningless. She was murdered because she went to watch a parade, a small town parade, a 4th of July parade. But the tragedy of a madman with an assault rifle isn’t just the loss of life; it’s the psychic impact on every survivor. For Jackie’s family and every other family in Sandy Hook, Parkland, Uvaldi, Highland Park, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, and all the places that the Reverend Washam just named in all of those cities, each family knew with absolute certainty that their loved ones would be returning home that day so they could eat dinner, play games, clean their rooms, watch tv, fold the laundry, wash the dishes, kiss each other goodnight, and do everything that every one of us takes for granted every single day.
But their loved ones didn’t come home. They didn’t get to say goodbye. They didn’t get to say I love you. They didn’t get to tell them how special they were or how much they loved them. Instead, the people left behind were ripped to shreds. They will never be whole, never smile the way they once did, never be the people they once were, because of the freedom to possess weapons of war that have only one purpose: to gun down as many as people as possible in the shortest period.
As Madam President Lawson said to a group of faith leaders, many of whom stand behind me today, “God forbid we have a mass shooting here in Rhode Island.” Exactly, but we don’t have to wait for God’s help to make a difference. We could do it ourselves by passing this bill. In Judaism, the words of the Torah cry out to us. Choose life, so that you and your children may live. Let’s do what we can by limiting access to weapons of war. If we can do that, then Jackie Sundheim’s death and all the others who have been taken before their time will have made a difference in the struggle for decency, compassion, and life. In short, her death will have significance and meaning, and we will be able to say, as a people and as a nation, that we have chosen life for ourselves and our children. Thank you for being here today. Let’s pass this bill.
Rev. Dr. Patty Kogut: I am the area conference minister from the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ, and I am blessed to support the pastors and churches of Rhode Island. I stand before you today on behalf of the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ and our Executive Conference Minister, Reverend Dore Goodwin, representing nearly 600 churches and congregations across Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. As people of faith, we believe every human life is sacred and worthy of protection. We are called by our faith to seek peace, to pursue justice, and to work toward a world where all God’s children can live free from fear and violence.
It’s in this spirit that we lend our strong support to the passage of the assault weapons ban in Rhode Island. This is not a partisan issue; it is a moral one. For over a decade faithful advocates, including our partners in the Rhode Island State Council of Churches and many clergy and lay leaders across the state, have prayed, preached, and persisted in pursuit of this common-sense legislation. The Rhode Island House has heard the call. Now we call on Senate leadership to do the same and bring the H5436 legislation to the Senate floor for a full and fair vote. We understand that there are multiple paths forward to make this happen. While we do not presume to dictate the method, we do urge firmly and faithfully that the time for delay is over. Our communities are weary of vigils, and we are tired of funerals. Our prayers demand action. As faith leaders, we do not stand alone. We speak alongside the voices of countless families, congregations, and communities who know too well the toll of gun violence. Let it be said of Rhode Island that when the moment came, we dared to act. May it be so, and thank you.
Swami Yogatmananda: Dear colleagues in France, I am the minister at the Vedanta Society of Providence, a Hindu church. Previously, I joined my voice with all the clergy and other members in opposing gun violence and promoting control over the availability of guns. I urge the senators to pass this bill, which has already been approved by the House, to restrict gun ownership. It is certainly necessary…
When this idea was presented in the Constitution, guns were of a very different kind, not these assault weapons or military weapons; therefore, we should not allow this to be a constitutional issue. We must control these guns. They should not fall into the hands of those who want to kill other people.
If we make these guns stop, will that stop gun violence? We don’t live in the full paradise. It’ll happen, but it’ll become more difficult. That’s all it is, like putting a lock on your home. Does it stop [all people]? No, but it makes it more difficult. That’s all. By passing stricter gun control, we put the brakes on this rampant gun violence that is going on all over the United States, including in our State of Rhode Island. We must raise their voices and urge the senators to pass this bill, which is now on their doorstep. It is time for them to act. It is time for us to raise our voice so they will take the right action.
Consider the Hindu idea that the soul is the same in all bodies. Each of us is different bodily, but the soul is the same, identical, and therefore we should respect each other’s lives. If we have this violence going on, that means we do not accept the idea that this soul is the same. Non-violence is an important principle, and the violence caused by the rampant availability of guns is therefore detrimental to this idea of having a life together. An important Hindu prayer says, Let us live our life together, we are all together. So let us express this togetherness by denouncing easy access to weapons, so that they can do murderous jobs. I agree with all the clergy members and so many of you: Let us hope that our goal of passing the legislation through the Senate is successful.
Rev. T. J. DeMarco: I’m an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church USA. I’m the pastor of Providence Presbyterian Church, located on Hope Street, and today I also represent the Presbytery of Southern New England, which encompasses all Presbyterian Church (USA) members in the State of Rhode Island. We come from every district in this state. I’d like to share with you a conversation I had a couple of weeks ago with a mother of young children. She said to me, “I wish we lived in a country where my kids didn’t need to carry cell phones to school.”
And I said, “Well, what do you mean by that?” And she said, “I tell my kids if a shooter enters the school, they should call me so we can at least have the chance to save a body.” People are living in fear for no good reason. Our government has failed to protect us. As we all know, sometimes well-meaning politicians and efforts to protect jobs, industry, and so-called freedoms have passed laws that have allowed more and more people to get very dangerous weapons into their hands.
It doesn’t have to be this way. This has been a huge failure. Their constituents have suffered greatly. Some have lost their lives, many have lost loved ones, and almost all of them live in fear. Most of us here today, speaking to you, are people who serve local congregations. Every single one of us has sat with someone who has lost a child or a parent to gun violence and grieved with them.
It doesn’t have to be like that anymore. As Presbyterians, we’re followers of Jesus and, like all Christians, we long for peace. We long for a world where troubled individuals will not have access to weapons that can kill massive numbers of people. In a moment, we long for a world where troubled individuals with fantasies of a violent future are not stockpiling weapons in their basements. And we long for a world where parents can send their kids to school without fear. Today, I represent Christians from all around the state, and as Christians, we believe that everyone deserves to live in peace and that no one should be forced to live in fear by failed policies. For over 50 years, the Presbyterian Church USA has urged our country to seek sensible gun regulations, and again and again, we’ve been ignored. The result has been, as we all know, too many deaths.
I especially represent Christians from all around the state and on their behalf. I ask that our senators bring this bill to the floor of the Senate on behalf of Senators Ciccone and all the members of the Senate to value people, especially children, more than their prophets. And I urge you to listen to the voices of the many quiet souls who seek peace. And I ask our senators to ignore the voices of the loud and troubled few who see violence as the only way to cope with a frightening world. There’s no good reason why anyone should have access to automatic weapons For me, this bill doesn’t go far enough, but it’s a start. I ask our senators to please do what you know is right in your heart and let’s begin to undo the policy mistakes of the past and bring this bill to the Senate floor.
Rev. Heather Bailes Baker: Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers.”
We may come from different houses of worship, traditions, and expressions of faith, but we stand on common ground. We believe in the sanctity of human life. We share a deep desire for peace, wholeness, and safety for all. Today, I join my voice with many calling for Rhode Island to ban the sale of assault weapons. One clear step we can take toward gun violence prevention.
I serve alongside the courageous people of the Arnold Mills United Methodist Church. Today, I’m speaking on behalf of Hearts for Social Justice, Rhode Island United Methodists for Action. I’m also a mother of two beautiful teens, and I worry about the state of the world they’re living in. Banning assault weapons is one thing we can do to make their and other children’s futures safer and brighter. As United Methodists, we believe that we are part of building God’s kingdom, making God’s dreams for our world a reality.
This calls us to work towards a future where no child hides during history class, where no parent fears sending their child to school. And where weapons of death are transformed into tools for life, our sacred text envisions a better future. The prophet Micah dreamed of a day when swords would be beaten into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks, when no one would be made afraid. Imagine no one is afraid. The United Methodist Church has long supported common-sense laws that reduce gun violence, including banning assault style weapons. Why assault weapons are not tools of peace or safety. They are weapons of war, assault weapons make mass shootings more deeply, domestic violence more fatal, and affect everyday life. They do not belong in our neighborhoods, nor do they belong in Rhode Island. This is not a partisan issue. This is a moral one. We gather today to call for peace.
We gather today to call for gun violence prevention and we urge our elected leaders to ban the sale of assault weapons in Rhode Island, ban assault weapons in Rhode Island. We urge our state senators and representatives to take action now. We are praying for your wisdom, and we have been waiting years to see it. We are counting on your courageous leadership today. Choose courageous compassion over fear. Choose to protect lives. Choose to be a peacemaker, Rhode Island. Let us be faithful to our call to seek justice and to love boldly. Let us be peacemakers. Blessed are the peacemakers. Amen and thank you.
Steve Kloeblen: I’m the incoming president of the First Unitarian Church of Providence. Our senior minister, Liz Lerner McClay, is traveling today and out of town, and I’m honored to speak in her place. Our congregation was founded over 300 years ago on the bedrock principle of democracy. At First U, our mission has been to seek inclusive social justice for over a decade. The passage of the assault weapons ban has been a significant focus for us because it’s fundamentally a social justice and a democratic issue. My wife and I were residents of Newtown, Connecticut, during the tragic Sandy Hook massacre. My wife was a school nurse in the Newtown school system for everyone in Newtown, especially the children, the teachers who lost their lives, and their families. Their fundamental rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness were tragically taken away on that sad day.
The common good, which our government exists to protect, was forever shattered. We deserve to live in communities free of gun violence. Assault weapons are military grade weapons designed to kill, not to support life. We should enjoy the liberty of not living in fear of mass shootings. The children should not be traumatized by active shooter drills in their school. We should be able to live happily. All families should be able to live happily, have happy holidays, attend concerts and parades without the remembrance of those who were lost and the constant risk of horrific violence. In Rhode Island, the will of the people is clear. A recent Fox News poll found that 61% of Rhode Islanders support an assault weapons ban. Last week, the Rhode Island House of Representatives passed this legislation with a 61% majority.
It now sits with our Senate. In the Senate, 64% of the senators are co-sponsors of this legislation, indicating their support for passing this bill. Earlier this week, my wife, Bob Westlake, another member of our congregation, and I sat in front of the Weaver Library in East Providence. In just over two hours, 60 East Providence voters signed letters to their State senator, Valerie Lawson, indicating their support and asking for her leadership to move this bill to the floor for a vote. Over 90% of her constituents that we spoke to that day respectfully asked Senator Lawson, as Senate President, to exercise her leadership and bring the assault weapons ban to the floor of the Senate for a vote. Senator Lawson’s leadership will enable our representatives to do their job and accurately reflect the will of the majority.
After 13 years, it’s time to pass the assault weapon ban…The only remaining question is whether our government, this Senate, will respect that, allow a vote, allow our democracy to function, support the common good of the people, and preserve our rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This is a democracy. This is inclusive social justice. Pass the assault weapons ban now.
Angela Howard-McParland: I work for the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, right here in Rhode Island, doing social justice advocacy for nuns who have decades of experience and moral authority on a variety of issues. I’m here to speak a little bit about the Catholic perspective. You’ve heard the statistics, you’ve heard about the relative right versus the absolute right of gun ownership. But did you know that since before the 1994 assault weapons ban was passed, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops advocated for an assault weapons ban, and they continue to do so? They did. So in 2004, when that ban failed to be renewed, during the 10 years that the assault weapons ban was in place, the number of banned weapons used in crimes declined by more than 65%. The data does not lie.
Pope Francis, in his 2015 address to Congress, said, “We have to ask ourselves why deadly weapons are being sold to those who plan to inflict untold suffering on individuals and on society.” Sadly, the answer, as we all know, is simply for money. Money that is drenched in blood, often innocent blood. An assault weapons ban, as you’ve heard, does not infringe on the Second Amendment right to own a firearm and to protect oneself. It simply reminds us that this is a relative right rooted in Catholic social teaching rather than an absolute right. My right to own a weapon does not and cannot infringe upon the community’s children’s right to feel safe at school, for my neighbor’s right to be safe at the grocery store, the movies, or parades. In their 2022 letter to Congress, following the massacre of children in Uvalde, the bishops reminded us that bipartisanship is never more important than when it is required to protect life and to end the culture of death.
We invite you and the entire Rhode Island Senate to support these measures and be part of building the culture of life that is so needed in our society, not just as elected officials, but as mothers, fathers, grandparents, aunts, and uncles of little children and teachers whom you expect to return home safely. This past Sunday was the celebration of the Feast of Pentecost. My pastor, Father Joe Upton, reminded us that this was the event where the followers of Christ went from timid disciples to bold apostles. They were committed to spreading the gospel and to guiding and building the beloved community. What we need now is that Pentecost moment. Let’s go from timid support for our children and communities to bold action that keeps them safe.”
Jeremy Langill: I want to thank my colleagues, on behalf of the Council of Churches, for coming and doing this work with us, and I want to thank all of you who are here because you have been doing this work for a long time, and we appreciate it. We love you, we are with you, and we are praying with you. On that note, I want to end on a prayer that I give often if I’m preaching, and then we can get back to the work.
May the divine bless us with discomfort at easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships, so that we may live deep within your heart. May the divine bless us with anger at injustice, oppression, and the exploitation of people so that we may work for justice, freedom, and peace. May the divine bless us with tears to shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger, and war, so that we may reach out the hand of the divine to comfort them and turn their pain to joy. And, may the divine bless us with enough foolishness to believe that we can make a difference in the world so that we can do what others claim cannot be done, to bring justice, love, and kindness to all of God’s family. Amen.
Thank you RI State Council of Churches for speaking out in support of the assault weapons ban!