A Modest Proposal for a New Constitutional Right: The Right Not to be Murdered . . .

The Right Not to Be Murdered with a Semiautomatic Weapon

In the richest, most powerful land in the history of the world,

You don’t have the right to food, shelter, basic medical care . . .

But you do have the right to own and use a powerful killing machine.

You can carry it in your pocket, your holster,

In your car or pick-up,

You can carry it into a church and murder

15-month-olds, 77-year-olds, a dozen children,

A pregnant woman and the unborn child she is bearing.

The woman you are shooting also bears arms, the arms,

Legs, hands, feet, heart, and brain of the future,

Of hope.

This does not have to be.

And those offering only “thoughts and prayers,”

Forget that we are the hands and feet of God.

“There is nothing we can do”

Is a dangerous lie!

We know what we can do—

Let’s get started right now!

Bob Coughlin / November 7, 2017

Gun Policy: Trying to Influence It

St. Mary Parishioners Try to Influence Governmental Policy on Guns

American Catholic Bishops have spoken out clearly on gun violence and too-easy access to deadly weapons. Echoing Pope Francis’s call for mercy and peacebuilding in our communities, the Bishops have asked that America implement reasonable regulations on firearms, such as: requiring universal background checks for all gun purchases; limiting civilian access to high-capacity weapons and ammunition magazines; making gun trafficking a federal crime; and improving mental health care for those who may be prone to violence.

To this end, three St. Mary parishioners, Krista Zivkovich, Dan Bergen, and myself, and the leader of the Cleveland Diocese COAR ministry, Mary Stevenson, met on January 27^th with Nick Ciofani, assistant to US Representative David Joyce. The meeting was held in Mr. Joyce’s Painesville office and lasted an hour. We introduced ourselves to Mr. Ciofani and were struck by all the personal connections we had to him and his family. Then we each proceeded to tell our stories why we were interested in this issue. The stories were riveting. I told the story told of my nephew Dillon Coughlin being in the Chardon High school cafeteria during the mass shooting that took place in 2012, leaving three students dead and one paralyzed for life. I also told of gun suicides of Lakeland College colleagues: our long-time psychology professor, a campus police officer, and one of my creative writing students. These tragic deaths profoundly affected me, my friends and family. Dan told of his wife’s work as an emergency room nurse and all the terrible shootings she had to deal with over the years. Mary Stevenson, the representative from the diocese’s COAR office, told how she herself had been shot in 1988, and the lifelong physical injuries she lives with. Krista told of her best friend’s suicide, a friend who was her son’s Godmother. In an astonishing twist of fate, that suicide victim was also the Godmother of Nick, Representative Joyce’s aide.

After telling our personal stories, we presented petitions signed by 134 St. Mary parishioners asking for reasonable limitations on gun availability. And we asked Nick to present these to Representative Joyce along with our hope that action could be taken in the future on these issues.

We left the meeting with no guarantees. But we did establish a relationship with Representative Joyce and his aide Nick Ciofani, and we did make clear the wishes of American Bishops and many St. Mary parishioners. We will continue to nurture this connection with our representative and keep trying to advocate for reasonable gun safety regulations. Our goal is in line with the goals of Pope Francis, the American Bishops, and many St. Mary parishioners: a safer, more merciful, and more just community. We are trying to do our part in building the Beloved Community, the Kingdom of God on Earth.

Postrcript: The petitions presented to Representative David Joyce have also been sent to Senators Sherrod Brown and Rob Portman and to state legislators, Kenny Yuko and John Rogers. Let’s hope that they pay attention to the wishes of the American Catholic Bishops and many members of St. Mary’s Church in Painesville, Ohio.

Just Thoughts--A Call for Common-Sense Gun Safety Measures

[Krista Zivkovich wrote this "Just Thoughts" column; it will appear in the October 25th bulletin of St. Mary's in Painesville, Ohio.]

Just Thoughts:

Faith Communities Calling for Common-Sense Gun Safety Measures

Our Catholic Bishops have long called on Congress to pass basic laws that would almost certainly cut down on the amount of gun violence in our country. The life of each  person God has created is precious to Him, and as individuals living in community with each other, we have a duty to respect the dignity and value of each life and to do what is within our power to protect the lives of His beloved people.

Many people have said, and rightly so, that laws alone will not prevent the kind of mass shootings to which our country is becoming all too accustomed.  However, many reasonable people agree that some common-sense measures will help to curb this plague of gun violence.

As you have probably heard or read often, the United States has more incidences of gun violence than any other developed country in the world. Following the December 2012 killing of 27 first graders and teachers in their classroom in Newtown, Connecticut, many Americans believed that Congress would act to pass basic gun safety measures.  In June another mass killing took place in Charleston, SC as members of AME Emanuel church gathered to pray and study Scripture in their church. Gun violence resulting in multiple deaths continued this summer around the country in a movie theater, an Army recruiting station and on live television. Gun violence touched our own parish family and last month took the life of a 5 year old Cleveland child while he played in his yard.

The Catholic Bishops have sent statements and letters to Congress urging them to pass gun safety measures. But has each of us made that same demand of our elected representatives?   Let us, members of the St. Mary faith community, join our voices together and call for changes in the gun safety laws. The Lake/Geauga Diocesan Social Action Commission has written a petition calling for the same 4 gun safety measures called for by the U.S. Bishops.  This weekend after each Mass, the petition will be available to sign in the Good Shepherd entrance. The petitions will be forwarded to our representatives in Congress and in Columbus.

The petition can also be found on the Catholic Charities website: Link to the petition. Or cut and past this address into your browser:

http://cqrcengage.com/ccdocle/app/sign-petition?2&engagementId=124658

Just Thoughts: Stop the Murders!

Just Thoughts: We Must Act to End This Violence

The world was stunned these past days by the cold-blooded murder of nine people (eight students and their 67-year-old teacher) at Umpquah Community College in Roseburg, Oregon and the wounding of about ten others. The killer brought six guns to the college, five handguns and a semiautomatic rifle, and had seven more guns back at his apartment. Reports say that these guns were purchased legally. This past month in the city of Cleveland, three little children, including a six-month-old baby, were killed in crossfire from gang shootings. And who can forget that three years ago in Chardon, three students were murdered and three wounded in their high school cafeteria. The sorrow is almost unbearable.

The world weeps for these students and these babies--and wonders how this could happen in the richest, most privileged country in the world. Some politicians have said what amounts to “stuff happens” or “there’s nothing we can do about it.” But that is clearly false because murders like this almost never happen in most of the world’s developed countries.

The environment in which such murders can happen is the result of poor social and political and legal structures. We can make laws and rules and procedures that both allow us our constitutional rights yet make this level of violence and murder far less likely.

Surely a problem like this calls out for action on many fronts: scholars and experts must come up with good sociological and psychological analyses; we need to better understand the biological factors behind violence. We must enact laws and procedures that make such violence much less possible. That last point is our responsibility: we are the voters; we have to elect leaders who will act and not continually roadblock progress on this front.

We have great models in the power of nonviolence. Mahatma Gandhi taught us the effectiveness of truth-force without the use of violence. Martin Luther King used nonviolent techniques in America in the fight for civil rights. And of course Jesus is the great teacher in the rejection of violence to achieve justice.

Failing to act can be nothing but a sin. We must start right away. A good beginning would be to teach our children to reject violence to achieve one’s goals. We are the hands and feet of the Lord. We need to pray to the Lord--and then get busy with our hands and feet and mind, creating a more peaceful world.

A Little Poem Remembering the Slaughter at Charleston's Emanuel AME Church

O America! Land of the Gun

(in memory of the slaughtered at Charleston’s Emanuel AME Church, June 17, 2015)

O America! Land of the Gun

I weep for thee

and all thy murdered children,

mothers, grandmothers,

fathers, sons, and daughters.

Your flaw is a knife wound

deep into this heart.

Your sin could be healed,

If you only had the will.

Bob Coughlin / June 18, 2015



[I know this poem is a bit odd. I begin using the older words "thee" and "thy" because this part of the poem reminds me of prayers and hymns written in that old voice. I was also thinking of Walt Whitman's use of those words--and Allen Ginsburg. Then I switch gears and use the more modern words "you" and "your(s)." I'm speaking more directly, in a more modern voice here. Another switch I made was from the language of guns to the image of a knife. That was certainly on purpose. I thought how guns are not the only instruments of murder; you can kill with knives and fists too! But guns are the main weapons of mass murder in America. And guns are easily available to anyone--from psychopaths to murderous haters. The end of the poem uses religious terms ("sin" and "healing") and implies that things can be done to change this situation, but the will doesn't seem to be there.]