My Gun Story

I grew up in small town Climax, Minnesota. I loved playing guns. I had six shooters, cavalry holsters with a six shooter cap gun, an army "burp" gun, a plastic Thompson sub machine gun. The creme-de-la-creme was a rubber gun constructed of laths and clothes pins. The idea was to cut up an old car tire to create 1/2 inch wide strips which you attached to the front of the laths, stretch them back to the rear handle, fit an end of the rubber into the clothes pin (trigger) and go shoot someone!  You could make a machine gun lath rubber gun by cutting notches into the laths and running a string down the barrel, putting several rubbers along the laths and activate the machine gun by pulling up the string. Fun!

I loved John Wayne movies!  I watched "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" and "Fort Apache." Television brought "Bonanza", "The Rifleman", "Rin Tin Tin" and "Paladin" into our home and my heart.  

Then came the B-B gun. I still remember the tears I shed after killing my first sparrow. However, the next weekend I shot 11 more.  Then, I was done. I went hunting a couple of times with my step-dad but never got a shot off. I took a gun safety course, learning to shoot a .22. I recall him hunting rabbits with it. He was a good shot.

My love affair with guns started to change when my step-dad purchased a Winchester 30-30 and went deer hunting. He came home with a deer strapped to the fender of his car and said he was done.  No more. He sold his 30-30. He felt the deer was too beautiful of an animal to kill. Perhaps he had some recurring PTSD from his service in Europe in WWII.

Then came the 1960s. My love affair with guns ended. The assassinations, Civil Rights struggles and the Vietnam War led me to say "Enough!" Guns meant death. No more fun. Guns were not innocent games anymore. I gave away my .22. The only gun I have today is an 80 year old rusty shotgun owned by my dad, broken stock, a memento in the museum of my memory. I became a committed pacifist, committed to nonviolence.

While serving congregations I taught and preached about nonviolence. I upset people with my anti-gun screed. I wrote anti-war resolutions for district conventions. Linda and I participated in several anti-war marches. We marched in Washington, DC on the 20th Anniversary of MLK, Jr's "March on Washington." 

I designed "The Gun Game" while executive director at Sky Ranch in Colorado. Each week we played this variation on "capture the flag." It was a three-phased game. Phase I was everyone playing the standard capture the flag for about 20 minutes. Phase II involved everyone being given a squirt gun (pistols, super soakers). The idea was to play the game, and when you were shot with water you had to adjust accordingly. That is, if you were shot in the arm or leg you couldn't use that appendage. If you were shot in the head or torso you were out of the game and sat down. Phase III had one side getting all of the squirt guns. Naturally, this phase was short-lived!

We processed the game following the three phases. All enjoyed the first phase!  Great fun! The second and third phases brought responses like: "It wasn't fun anymore." "We became angry." I asked, "What would it be like if you came to camp and were given a loaded Uzzie or pistol upon arrival?" The responses were: "It wouldn't be camp anymore." And "We'd kill each other." I then asked, "Would Jesus carry an AK-47?" Overwhelmingly the response was shouted "No!" Youth saw the truth.

Now, I am on the Protect Minnesota Board of Directors. Our purpose is to work for gun violence prevention. I have led conversations in our church and taken action at synod assemblies. I am organizing a synodical committee to address gun violence prevention in churches, believing that the People of God, the Church, are the moral conscience of our communities, state and nation. A friend and I have developed a course called ENGAGE which is a guided conversation on many gun violence prevention facets: Biblical, Church statements, Second Amendment, NRA, and specific possible actions.

Frankly, finding an audience in the church has been a difficult slog. I am frequently disappointed at the lack of interest, lack of will, and lack of clergy courage to address the issue. This in spite of unprecedented mass shootings and 34,000 deaths a year. It is incomprehensible to me how the Church  can be so hesitant to reject this scourge and seek solutions. 

What keeps me going? Statements from our ELCA, Holy Scripture, Jesus and Paul's ethics, love of Linda, family and people, and the truth. "Enough!"  "No more of this!" "Blessed are the peacemakers!"

What's your story?

Peace!

Ron