The clergymen stood inside the Lansdowne gun shop on Hollins Ferry Road, in front of a glass counter containing what they called the “instruments of death” responsible for turning the streets of Baltimore into a killing field.
“The city is devastated by violence ”” gun violence,” pressed Rev. Eugene Sutton, a bishop with the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, whose group protested this store on Wednesday. “We’re trying to get the illegal guns off the street. Too many people are dying. It’s destroying Baltimore.”
Bill and Clyde Blamberg, owners of Clyde’s Sport Shop for more than a half century, listened politely but firmly told the group to seek help elsewhere ”” change the laws in Annapolis before attempting to change the minds of gun shop owners.
Well, let’s see … if these clergy folk invested at least a little time in helping to strengthen traditional marriage and families in the city, perhaps a different set of morals and such could have been taught to all those kids pulling triggers. What an embarrassment…
Wait – they’re protesting illegal guns at a place where guns are bought legally? These are some keen minds at work.
They are beyond keen, they are episcopalian “minds” – what you get when you leave your brain wherever it is they left them.
#1 — I’m not understanding your “traditional marriage” and guns link. You’re not really suggesting that simply getting married eliminates gun violence, are you? The Mafia and the drug cartels are filled with “traditional families.”
Hopelessness, poverty, the desire for “easy money,” and a lack of education are the problems that lead to crime. In this environment, it doesn’t really matter if the kids have one parent or two if the parents remain uneducated, lacking skills, and see no chance of improvement.
I would like to see these religious leaders working on charter schools and providing better educationa/vocationall opportunities for the young people. They’re wasting their time in the gun shop.
#4, I guess you missed all the studies that indicate that children in a traditional family are less likely to be involved in crime, premarital sex, drug abuse, etc. and that they are more likely to do better in school? Here is a link with some important statistics: http://www.dadsworld.com/parenting-statistics/importance-of-fathers.html
As for the anti-gun kooks in clerical garb…it appears that they have missed all the national statistics about how states that adopt concealed carry laws have had significant reductions in crime? Honestly, the statistics are in and the matter isn’t really a question anymore. Have a look: http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/493636.html
I find it amazing that liberal clergy teach/learn how oppressive the Church has been in the past when it interferes in government, yet these clergy try to do the same thing (except in the area of sexuality of course). I am glad we don’t have a state church, because we would probably lose a lot of freedoms depending on which church was in charge.
What a bunch of simpletons. Picketing a gun store to “get illegal guns off the street.” Pathetic. An armed society is a civil society.
#7 evan miller says:
I don’t know about that. Don’t get me wrong: I’m a gun owner myself, and I have no problem at all with responsible and competent people carrying, concealed or otherwise. In fact, if the statistics are as they appear to be (as S&T alludes to above) I actively support it: it appears to have a measurable effect on lowering crime rates.
So an armed society may very well be a safer society. But I don’t see any strong correlation with civility; and indeed that would only make sense if there were a significant number of people out there willing to shoot someone simply because they were being rude… a reaction which I would tend to consider excessive. As would the law.
Personally, I don’t love guns, but I love rights. Anytime somebody wants to take away my rights, but has no problem allowing the elite to retain them (for example, police and celebrity bodyguards have them), I get concerned. The good news is that these clergy are irrelevant. The bad news is that many Americans are ignorant and want somebody else to limit their freedoms in the name of safety or protection.