The following epistle was approved by members of Cleveland Friends Meeting on 12th Month 20, 2015. Copies of this statement were sent to our U.S. representatives and senators.

We recently have witnessed two more mass shootings in Colorado Springs and San Bernardino in which numerous people were killed and others wounded – two more mass killings in over 300 this year alone. In response to these heart-wrenching tragedies, some Congressional leaders called for “a moment of silence” and offered their payers. Their Silence is part of the problem and, while surely sincere, haven’t these Prayers come too late for the victims?

It is of concern to us as members of the Religious Society of Friends to hear politicians and others who speak openly of their Christian faith try to associate “the right to bear arms” with Christian values. Some argue that “guns don’t kill people, people kill people” – as if the gun were some harmless instrument misused by the perpetrators of violence. Clearly, people with guns kill people much more efficiently than people with any other instrument. Guns are too easily used as instruments of killing, evil, and destruction. How can their use be compatible with Jesus’ call to love our enemies and to return good for evil?

While anger and despair at these senseless killings are understandable, yet for Christians, anger and despair have to be replied to by love and hope, not by calling on people to arm themselves.  While human laws may allow the unrestricted acquisition and possession of guns, the idea advanced by some  that this is compatible, or even synonymous, with Christian values is truly unfathomable.  Aren’t we as Christians to testify to the teachings of Jesus – love rather than hate, compassion rather than indifference? These are powerful and conflicting sentiments, which we, as humans, all hold in our hearts but, as Christians, are we not called on to lead and live in a different way? And if we will not, can we truly call ourselves Christians and followers of Jesus?

When tragedies occur involving guns or other instruments of violence, we must all search deep into our hearts for holy guidance. If we can reach deeply for that spirit of love which God has sown in our hearts, then we can cast away the idolatry of guns which consumes our society. If we cannot, we will only continue to see more tragedies as those we have experienced these past weeks and years. If we respond in the same way as others have to us, who is to say where the cycle of hate and retribution began, and how can it then be brought to an end?

If Christ commanded us to love our enemies and to return love for evil, who are we to contradict him? Who are we to equivocate? Who are we to say “Yes, but?”