In a two hour session on Thursday, July 5,2018 at ADAMS Center, approximately 120 local residents, including Muslim, Jewish, Sikh, Hindu and Christian interfaith representatives and eleven Virginia state delegates held a two hour forum entitled, “Beyond Thoughts and Prayers: An interfaith discussion on gun safety.” A handful of Muslims were also in attendance.
In the aftermath of the Marjorie Stoneman High School shooting in Parkland FL, a number of ADAMS neighborhood residents expressed concerns about gun violence, what could be done in their area to prevent such tragedies and how faith-based communities could assist. The forum host and ADAMS interfaith representative Rizwan Jaka declared that while they were not against the Second Amendment “in any form or fashion”, they sought solutions on how to curb the “scourge of gun violence” and how to get “assault weapons, these military-grade weapons” off the streets.
Jaka thanked all attendees and expressed appreciation for their participation, paraphrased the Quran that “we would be tested, but not more than we can bear,” emphasized the various vigils ADAMS has participated in, and stated if there are wrongs in society “you have to make a supplication to God..you must speak out ..if you save the life of one person, it’s as if you saved the life of all of humanity.” He then emphasized the presence of other faith based leaders who shared the same idea, welcoming them with “Peace, Salam, Shalom, Namaste.” Virginia state delegate John Bell (D-Loudoun) chaired the event and steered later audience comments to a panel of ten Democratic state representatives. Organizers mentioned that Republican state representatives were also invited to attend the forum, yet according to the organizers, they declined.
So that “all sides could be heard”, Bell allowed any attendee to address the delegates for two minutes, opening with “should guns be allowed in places of worship?” He also encouraged attendees to come to state legislature meetings to bring up their concerns. While several expressed concern over attending a place of worship that has attendees with firearms, the general consensus was that any place of worship should make their own policy on issues like security. Jaka mentioned that ADAMS does have armed, professional guards to provide security for the Islamic center and has a no-gun policy in place for regular attendees.
John Bell next raised the question of “does the goal of reducing gun violence come in line with or detract from your faith and beliefs?” Rizwan Jaka responded by restating that “to save one life is as if one is saving all humanity” however he stated that one must also defend oneself. This point was later raised by an attendee who said that gun laws historically were designed to keep guns out of the hands of slaves, and that Martin Luther King said the American government was “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today.”
The next question, “do you feel it is proper for ministers and leaders of the faith community to speak about preventing gun violence from the pulpit?” was met with the rhetorical question, “why not”, since many may not fully understand what their faith has to say on this issue.
While the organizers stated beforehand that they would ask whether the Second Amendment that guarantees an individual right to firearms, is in line with faith traditions, this question was never actually raised. During the session however, organizers stated they were not against the Second Amendment, yet the overall tone of the evening was clearly anti-gun, with several attendees mentioning about “closing the gun show loophole,” “increasing universal background checks” and “licensing gun owners.” One attendee stated he, “served six long years in the Army National Guard...and I carried an M-16 and an M-79 grenade launcher...none of those weapons have a place in a civilian society.” Neither the M-16 nor M-79 have been used in modern US mass shootings; federal laws make these weapons difficult for civilians to acquire.
The larger question of why mass shootings have increased and whether morality, mental health, or other societal factors play a significant role was not addressed at the ADAMS meeting.
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