Washington National Cathedral

The Sunday Forum: Critical Issues in the Light of Faith

The Very Rev. Samuel T. Lloyd III, host

Cathedral Dean Samuel T. Lloyd III and Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Center for Prevention of Gun Violence, discuss “Making America a Less Violent Place.” The conversation occurs near the tenth anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre and the second anniversary of the Virginia Tech killings, and amid news stories about mass shootings, police killings, and murder/suicide across the United States.

What has caused the apparent sudden increase in gun violence? “We’ve got more stress in society than we’ve had in a long time,” Helmke says, citing economic problems, unemployment, and the resulting strain on marriages and other relationships. The easy availability of guns, in combination with extraordinary stress, leads to worsening violence.

Guns, according to Helmke, make some people feel less vulnerable and perhaps more important. In recent months, rumors that the Obama administration plans to restrict the availability of guns, or raise taxes on bullets, have led to higher sales of both weapons and ammunition.

Helmke believes that the American public has gradually come to accept high levels of gun violence. Famous killings of the past, such as the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre and the shootout at the OK Corral, claimed seven and five lives respectively—a number that, alas, no longer seems extraordinary.

The media now sometimes treat gun violence almost as a natural disaster: mass shootings are reported as inevitabilities, like tornadoes. But gun violence “is something that doesn’t have to happen,” Helmke says. “We’ll always have violence.… humanity is going to be sinful. But . . . we can make it harder for dangerous people to get these guns. There are things we can do to make our communities safer.”

Lloyd points out that 120,000 people have died in gun violence since the attacks of September 11, 2001. What action can people take? Politicians have what Helmke calls a “different way of thinking.” “They need to hear from their public. They need to hear from us,” he says.

Helmke talks about the “gun show loophole” that enables people who are not licensed firearms dealers to sell guns without performing a criminal background check. In one incident, a purchaser underwent a background check and bought dozens of identical weapons from a licensed dealer, and then legally resold them, without any requirement to conduct background checks of his own customers. These weapons were later used to commit violent crimes in several states.

About Paul Helmke

Paul Helmke is president of the Brady Campaign/Center to Prevent Gun Violence, the nation’s largest national, non-partisan, grassroots organization leading the fight to prevent gun violence. During his twelve years as mayor of Fort Wayne, Indiana (1988–2000), Helmke also served as president of the United States Conference of Mayors, board member for the National League of Cities, president of the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns and of both the national and Indiana Republican Mayors and Local Officials organizations.