STAND!: "Stop Making These Weapons"

People of courage, kindness and defiant hope gathered today on the lawn at Sig Sauer's corporate headquarters, in Newington, NH, to call on weapons manufacturers to stop the madness.  Sig Sauer's own assault rifle was used in the mass shooting at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando in 2016--killing 49 souls, most of whom were young people out dancing and enjoying their friends.  Similiar rifles were used this month in Buffalo and South Texas, bringing death and heartbreak to communities of color, schools and families who will never be the same.

The Rev. Sarah Rockwell, St. Andrew's, Manchester

We are so very aware that vigils and protests are just a small part of the work ahead.  We must translate energy and anger into political power--making a case to folks from all kinds of backgrounds and political parties that gun control is smart, democratic and right for our kids and neighbors. "A New Imagination," as Jon Bromley puts it, "For What is Possible."

Jon Bromley & Dennis Drogseth

It's my own conviction that only vigorous democratic engagement and thoughtful neighborliness (citizenship) can meet the tremendous needs in our time--crises like climate change and economic apartheid, authoritarianism and systemic racism.  It's also clear the 300 million guns--little guns, big guns, concealed guns, out-in-the-open guns, assault rifles, all of them--serve to frighten, overwhelm and deter citizens from showing up for the tasks of democratic life.  And maybe that's the Far Right's hope: to keep the rest of us isolated, afraid and demoralized.  But this is no longer an option: we have to come together, we have to negotiate with one another, we have to practice our way back to the heart of democracy itself.

Allison from First Parish, Dover

The Rev. Hank from Milford

See the excellent coverage of today's demonstration in Seacoast Online's edition.

Chuck Hotchkiss, GSOP and Community Church

It was deeply meaningful, at Sig Sauer's campus today, to see peoples of many faiths, friends from many generations, all coming together with love and spirit and determination.  We will not be frightened away from one another.  We will not be bullied into submission (or inaction) by gun lobbies and rightwing zealots.  "This land is your land, this land is my land," sang Woody Guthrie, "this land was made for you and me!"

Audrey Drogseth

Zoe and Loren Selig and Heidi Bogle

In "Foster's Daily Democrat" this week, John Shea names the crisis: "In a world full of problems, we may be losing sight of the most critical among them. The most pressing crisis today in the United States is not the pandemic, inflation, or the abortion divide. It is the growing number of guns and increasing violence in our country – at a time when too many people are hurting in too many ways, too many people are filled with too much hate, and our nation’s democracy is arguably as factious and fragile as it’s ever been."  How in the world do 300 million weapons--under our beds, in our closets, in our pockets--how do they make us more trusting, more engaged, more creative?  There's just no way.  Those weapons are designed to divide us, to make us mean and to drive us from one another.  We cannot let that happen!

Jane Pollard