UM Insight Screen Cap from Arizona PBS
Gerry Hills
United Methodist laywoman Gerry Hills chairs the Desert Southwest Conference's Gun Violence Awareness Task Force. She founded Arizonans for Gun Safety after her brother was killed by a gunman 23 years ago.
The Oct. 1 mass shooting in Las Vegas, Nev., occurred within the boundaries of the United Methodist Desert Southwest Annual Conference. Now the conference is stepping up its focus on reducing or stopping gun violence in the United States.
The conference posted a notice, "Preventing Future Gun Tragedies" this week on its website. The notice invites United Methodists in Arizona and Nevada to watch a local public affairs program, "Arizona Horizon," on Arizona PBS featuring an interview with Gerry Hills, conference Gun Violence Awareness Task Force Chairperson and founder of Arizonans for Gun Safety.
The conference notice "urges clergy to join the new Gun Violence Awareness Facebook Group and start a focused conversation on how to enact changes in the Arizona and Nevada gun laws. Watch the video, share it with your church and community, and join the Facebook Group."
The Facebook group description says: "The Gun Violence Awareness Task Force of the Desert Southwest Conference UMC seeks to reduce gun violence deaths and injuries through a robust task force membership, educating and engaging the local church, providing gun safety programs and information, and influencing public policy."
Arizona is also where former U.S. congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was critically wounded in a 2011 gun attack by a deranged man outside a shopping plaza in Tucson. The beginning of Ms. Hills' PBS video shows a clip of Ms. Giffords and her husband, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, advocating again for "common sense" gun control. The couple founded Americans for Responsible Solutions after Ms. Giffords, who was shot in the head, partially recovered from her near-fatal injuries.
Cynthia B. Astle serves as Editor of United Methodist Insight, which she founded in 2011.