Gun Violence Prevention

Become a Gun Violence Prevention Community Educator

Michigan has four new gun violence prevention laws to keep our families and communities safe. But, they won’t make a difference if no one knows about them! Now, we need to educate the entire state about what these laws mean.

Don’t worry, you don’t have to be an expert - We’ll train you! You will then join a leadership team that meets regularly to provide support, coaching and resources. As a Community Educator, you will:

  • Receive training about gun violence, GVP, and the new legislation
  • Conduct presentations at local schools, PTAs, community organizations, scouting groups, etc.
  • Distribute flyers and informational material around your community

 

Educators will teach our neighbors about:

  • Safe storage of firearms in homes with children;
  • Extreme Risk Protection Orders, who is eligible to file them and how;
  • Universal background checks, and how to use them;
  • New protections for domestic violence survivors.

 

Interested?

Sign up here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeC1IQNdnD2VvjA8PJBLc5K0hgP-b2D1T-7XnjOkbJcPHf8_Q/viewform

 

Join End Gun Violence Michigan

 To find out more information, click here.

 

Contact Your Elected Officials

Click here to contact your elected officials.

 

Additional Resources

Click here for more Resources for Gun Violence Prevention

 

A Call to Address Gun Violence

While we are painfully aware that more than 100 Americans die each day from guns, the recent spate of mass shootings in this country has again heightened our sense of urgency to take action to stem the tide of gun deaths.  As an initial response in 2019, First Presbyterian Church Ann Arbor produced the following statement to serve as a guide for our congregation to address this societal scourge with prayer and potential action.  

Please read the statement below and consider how you might help in this cause.

First Presbyterian Ann Arbor Commitment to Reduce Gun Violence

We, as members of First Presbyterian Church, in an effort to model the love and the care of Jesus Christ in the world, commit ourselves to work actively to increase the respect and sanctity for life in our community and across our nation.  We hear Jesus’s call to us to be peacemakers and lift up this special concern as we pray, worship, study and take action together in the world to reduce gun violence.

We believe we should love our enemies and follow the commandment, “Thou shall not kill.”  We will pursue peace through non-violence. We are called to love and bear one another’s burdens without fear, without judgment, without resentment, without enabling, without condemnation and without guilt.  We are called to generously share God’s grace with all people.

We agree that as Christians, we will work to diminish fear and violence.  We will work to increase our love and safety in a Christian community that allows for differences and opinions.  We are not of one mind about the appropriateness of owning or carrying handguns for personal safety.  We acknowledge that this discussion is not about guns used for hunting or shooting sports.

As a Christian community, we commit to supporting our neighbors and caring for one another.  We commit to welcoming, protecting, and educating our congregation and community.  We commit to providing a safe place of worship.  We commit to continual prayer for an end to gun violence.

We commit to providing a safe place of worship
We commit to educating our congregation and community
We commit to working in partnership for action and advocacy
We commit to continual prayer for an end to gun violence

Link to PCUSA Resolution-Gun Violence-Gospel Values, Mobilizing in Response to God’s Call:

https://www.pcusa.org/site_media/media/uploads/acswp/pdf/gun-violence-policy.pdf

Gun Violence Prevention

Legislation

 

Contact

For more information on how you can get involved, please email the Social Justice Action Group at sjag@firstpresbyterian.org