The Missouri Legislature completes their session on Friday, May 17. At this point, there are no gun-related bills that have passed either the House or the Senate, and the limited time makes it less likely that anything will pass, barring a late amendment. To make sure you get any action alerts immediately, please go to this link: https://www.votervoice.net/DIOCESEMO/register and register with Voter Voice now.
The Gun Violence Prevention mission organized a call-in campaign during Holy Week, encouraging all Episcopalians to call their state senator and state representative to speak out in favor of common sense gun legislation. Thank you very much to everyone who made those calls. If you didn’t, it’s never too late to make your voice heard. This link will take you to the alerts with all the information you will need to place those calls.
We also encourage everyone to sign up directly with Moms Demand Action by texting the word READY to 644-33 and you will be added to their email list, and each month you will receive an email with opportunities to take action to support sensible gun legislation.
Wear Orange Weekend is a national event taking place June 7 through 9. It was started by the friends of Hadiya Pendleton who was shot and killed on a playground in Chicago in 2013. Many faith communities have joined the effort to raise awareness and speak out against our country’s epidemic of gun violence. Plans for this year are still being formed, but full details about how you can get involved will be in the Proclaim diocesan newsletter in the coming weeks.
We have recruited point people at 18 of our 42 parishes who have volunteered to be a conduit for information on gun violence prevention efforts. If reducing gun violence is something you care deeply about and would like to volunteer as a parish representative to help us, please email gunsafety@diocesemo.org.