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This is a blog that captures the varied musings and leadership ideas of Joe Sellepack, the Executive Director of the Broome County Council of Churches.

Thursday, March 28, 2013

I am committed to reducing violence in our world.

For Christians this is Holy Week, the week we honor the events that surround the death of Christ on Good Friday. Whatever spiritual significance is attached to that day, the physical act of crucifixion, itself, in the case of Good Friday is the result of violence perpetrated against an innocent man. And I as a Christian stand today with “Mayors against Illegal Guns,” in wanting to reduce the amount of fatalities by violent gun death of innocent people by regulating the sale and availability of guns for those who would do horrific acts like what happened recently in Aurora, CO and Newtown, CN.
April 3, 2009 for us in Binghamton was our own Good Friday. On that day a gunman shot off 99 rounds of ammunition in a little over a minute killing 13 people. We must make sure that these events do not repeat themselves.

Further we know from statistics that every day many people are killed by weapons because certain dealers do not require background checks and, consequently, the sale and use of these guns is not able to be monitored by police.We must give law enforcement officials the tools that are necessary to enforce existing gun laws and ensure that guns are used legally. For these reasons I fully support “Mayors Against Illegal Gun Use.” Furthermore, I would like for the level of discourse in our country to reflect the necessity to reduce violence in our communities. I hope that one day we will enter a time when no one will ever experience another Good Friday.