Houston, Texas, August, 27, 2012
My name is John Lindsay-Poland, of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, and the Caravan for Peace with Justice and Dignity. This month-long Caravan has traversed the entire border between the United States and Mexico, shining a light on the human cost of the drug war, of gun trafficking, of inhumane immigration policies, of a militarized foreign policy, and of money laundering. These cause intense suffering in our own society as well as in Mexico.
Those who share our concerns can join us in petitioning President Obama by texting “PEACE” to 225568.
This is the time. And this is the place.
The murders with guns of Sikhs in Wisconsin, of theatergoers in Aurora, and of a former co-worker during rush hour in Manhattan have left many indignant and afraid. What does it take to stop this madness?
Mexicans have asked the same question for several years now, as violence related to the drug war has stolen more than 60,000 lives since 2006 – the vast majority killed with firearms.
The response of the Mexican and U.S. governments has been to arm and train Mexican police and soldiers. Many of them have themselves been paid or coerced into collaborating with narco-traffickers.
But organized crime is also armed in the United States, by private sales of powerful, military-style weapons, which these organizations use to control territory, legal and illegal commerce, and people’s conduct.
In this way, our country, the United States, is arming both Mexican police and soldiers, through military aid, and criminal organizations, through the open market for military weapons. This open market for fuels a deadly race by criminal organizations and police to have ever more powerful guns. And they’re easy to get.
On Saturday, a woman who is not a U.S. citizen and speaks with a foreign accent entered the High Caliber Gun & Knife Show outside Houston and purchased a .357 Magnum pistol, with no identification whatsoever, and walked out. The transaction took less than five minutes. At the same show, a man bought an AK-47 assault rifle, after a 10-minute background check. Both transactions were legal.
Our society allows the commerce of military-style weapons as if they were toys or candy. More than two of every three weapons recovered at crime scenes in Mexico were purchased on the private market in the United States.
The Second Amendment confers the right to possess firearms. But all basic rights include responsibilities, and these responsibilities impose limits and expectations.
The First Amendment confers the right to freedom of expression, but that doesn’t mean I have the right to play live music amplified to the max in the middle of the night in a crowded building, or shout while others speak in a courtroom.
The right to possess a firearm also has limits. If it didn’t, we would allow individuals to own nuclear bombs.
“And they will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks,” Isaiah tells us in the Old Testament. But when? Where? What will it take?
This is the time. And this is the place.
Today, the Caravan for Peace with Justice and Dignity carries out an unprecedented action. The assault rifle and pistol purchased so easily, so casually on Saturday will be dismantled, cut apart, hammered, and buried in cement by victims of gun violence.
After these guns have been buried, we will proceed from here to Carter’s Country.
