Excellent, timely, and needed! Thank you.

Two thoughts to contribute:

1. I recently posted some common sense suggestions for how to reduce the amount of gun violence in the U.S. Some readers responded by saying that, aside from those that focused on universal health care that covers mental health, they were too "knee-jerk" or too "quick fix" oriented rather than getting at the root of the problem. Well, how's this for getting at the root of our problems? I am issuing a call for all of us to encourage Christian pastors to preach the authentic Gospel of Jesus that instills faith instead of fear --- and to shift away from the, notably American, substitutionary theory of the atonement which perpetuates the false myth of redemptive violence.

2. Our president said that he'd "do all in his power" to help reduce gun violence in the U.S., and since we're a nation of human primates, we learn through mimesis ("monkey see monkey do"). We follow the example of our leaders and authorities. So, given that we're still engaged in an unnecessary war in Afghanistan, and since we have policies of execution without trial, and since we have a Federal death penalty, and since we engage in drone attacks overseas, he'd do well to model the reduction in violence in that he's seeking to see across our country. If a nation wages wars, and employs capital punishment, it tells people that violence is justified. May our leaders tell us something different.