Trigger Study and Action Guide ($5.00)
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This study and action guide assists leaders in facilitating a four-session study on gun violence and the Church’s response. The documentary, Trigger: The Ripple Effect of Gun Violence, and accompanying study guide are based on the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s policy statement, Gun Violence, Gospel Values: Mobilizing in Response to God’s Call, and were created in an effort to “take responsibility to build public awareness of gun violence and the epidemic of preventable gun-related deaths.”
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Gun Violence, Gospel Values: Mobilizing In Response to God’s Call
This report, approved by the 219th General Assembly (2010), challenges our society’s fatalism and numbness in accepting the highest gun death rates in the world, reviews past church positions and proposes a new “spiritual awakening” approach: a church-related, community-based strategy inspired by “Heeding God’s Call” in Philadelphia, with similar groups in Richmond, Virginia and central New Jersey. The report looks at our culture of violence-acceptance, with its undercurrents of fear and desperation.
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Bulletin Insert for Trigger Screening
Download an editable bulletin insert to help promote your screening of TRIGGER: The Ripple Effect of Gun Violence. This bulletin insert allows you to fill in your own screening information and easily print.
Congregational Resources
Part 1: Gun Violence 101
Gun Violence 101 looks at the issue of domestic gun violence, becoming more aware of it as a problem, and discerning how our faith community may be called to address it. By the end of the session, participants will have:
• studied national gun violence statistics
• reviewed current PC(USA) views on gun violence
• named initial unease or concerns with the issue
• identified how it has touched us individually or communally
Part 2: Guns in the U.S. Today
This curriculum will help the readers to understand the evolving relationship of the American public to guns today and takes a look at how the role of guns has changed in our society. By the end of the session, participants will have:
• explored the historical and contemporary interpretations of the Second Amendment
• considered implications of gun policy on our community
• thought about how the role of guns has changed in our society
Part 3: Illegal Sales of Guns
This curriculum examines the issue of illegal gun sales, specifically becoming familiar with the practice of “straw purchasing.” By the end of the session, participants will have:
• learned how guns are illegally traded in the US.
• reflected on our relationship to the illegal gun market.
Part 4: Gun Violence and Suicide
This lesson examines the issue of suicide, especially the relationship between guns and suicide. It also takes a look at suicide demographics, influences, and prevention techniques. By the end of the session, participants will have:
• learned about suicide demographics, influences, and prevention techniques
• reviewed suggestions for how talk about suicide
• discussed the taboo topic from a faith and pastoral perspective
Part 5: Supporting Those Who Grieve
This resource explores how we can grieve together as a faith community by looking at the grief process and considering how to better support those around us who have experienced loss. By the end of the session, participants will have:
• learned about the grief process
• considered how they can support those in your community who grieve a loss
Part 6: Theological Underpinnings
This lesson uses Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10: 25-37 to explore the theological underpinnings of gun violence prevention.
Worship Resources
Included in these worship resources are a litany on the tragedy of gun violence, a hymn, lamenting gun violence and scripture passages to use in addressing gun violence.
Heeding God’s Call
This curriculum guides congregations through the process of forming a local chapter of Heeding God’s Call, a faith-based movement working to keep guns out of the wrong hands, by encourage gun shops to adopt a code of conduct to deter illegal purchasing and trafficking of guns.
