<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"><head><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml><o:OfficeDocumentSettings><o:AllowPNG/><o:PixelsPerInch>96</o:PixelsPerInch></o:OfficeDocumentSettings></xml><![endif]--></head><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:24px"><div id="yiv9556062870"><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_13626"><div style="color:#000;background-color:#fff;font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:24px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_13625"><div id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_6555">Frankly, I'm so gun-phobic that my only weapon shoots rubber bands (a Christmas present from my nephew--our local assistant DA!). Not much of a defense against any idiot who decides to take me out with one well-aimed shot!<br clear="none"></div><div id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_10171">So much for the merriment, this is serious.</div><div id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_11449">I'm willing to potentially risk my life among the gun-toting Trump voters by being an unarmed witness. And by speaking out (and acting out) in careful, strategic ways to 'seed' significant cultural transformation.<br clear="none"></div><div id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_9934">Time to read</div><div dir="ltr" id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_6510"><a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" class="yiv9556062870enhancr2_f02f242f-94fe-1ddb-72c4-057dd30d96e4" id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_6509" target="_blank" href="http://um-insight.net/perspectives/views-from-a-ridge/time-to-topple-the-false-god/">Time to Topple the False God</a><br clear="none"></div><div id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_6554"><br clear="none"></div><div class="yiv9556062870yahoo-link-enhancr-card yiv9556062870ymail-preserve-class yiv9556062870ymail-preserve-style" dir="ltr" id="yiv9556062870enhancr2_f02f242f-94fe-1ddb-72c4-057dd30d96e4" style="max-width:400px;font-family:'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;" data-url="http://um-insight.net/perspectives/views-from-a-ridge/time-to-topple-the-false-god/" data-type="yenhancr" data-category="article" data-embed-url="" data-size="medium" contenteditable="false"> <a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" class="yiv9556062870yahoo-enhancr-cardlink" id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_6533" target="_blank" href="http://um-insight.net/perspectives/views-from-a-ridge/time-to-topple-the-false-god/" style="text-decoration:none;color:#000;"> <table class="yiv9556062870card-wrapper yiv9556062870yahoo-ignore-table" id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_6532" style="max-width:400px;" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_6531"><tr id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_6530"><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_6529" width="400"> <table class="yiv9556062870card yiv9556062870yahoo-ignore-table" 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id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_6524" style="width:100%;" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_6523"><tr id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_6522"><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_6521" style="background:transparent url('https://s.yimg.com/nq/storm/assets/enhancrV2/12/overlay-tile.png') repeat left top;min-height:200px;" valign="top" bgcolor="transparent" background="https://s.yimg.com/nq/storm/assets/enhancrV2/12/overlay-tile.png"> <table class="yiv9556062870yahoo-ignore-table" id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_6520" style="width:100%;min-height:185px;min-height:185px;" height="185"><tbody id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_6519"><tr id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_6518"><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" class="yiv9556062870card-richInfo2" id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_8414" style="text-align:left;text-align:left;padding:15px 0 0 15px;vertical-align:top;"> </td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" class="yiv9556062870card-actions" id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_6517" style="text-align:right;padding:15px 15px 0 0;vertical-align:top;"> <div class="yiv9556062870card-share-container"></div> </td></tr></tbody></table> </td></tr></tbody></table> </td></tr><tr id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_6566"><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_6565"> <table class="yiv9556062870card-info yiv9556062870yahoo-ignore-table" id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_6564" style="background:#fff;position:relative;z-index:2;width:95%;max-width:380px;border:1px solid #e0e4e9;border-bottom:3px solid #000000;margin-top:-40px;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" align="center"><tbody id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_6563"><tr id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_6562"><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="background-color:#ffffff;padding:16px 0 16px 12px;vertical-align:top;"> </td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_6561" style="vertical-align:middle;padding:16px 12px;width:99%;"> <h2 class="yiv9556062870card-title" style="font-size:16px;line-height:19px;margin:0 0 4px 0;font-family:'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">Time to Topple the False God</h2> <div class="yiv9556062870card-description" style="font-size:11px;line-height:15px;color:#999;">America worships a false god – the gun – and it's time to topple the idol that has received too many human s...</div> </td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_11440" style="text-align:right;padding:16px 12px 16px 0;"> </td></tr></tbody></table> </td></tr></tbody></table> </td></tr></tbody></table> </a></div><div id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_6560"><br clear="none"></div><div id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_6557"><span id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_6558">and</span></div><div dir="ltr" id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_6559"><span id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_6558"><a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" class="yiv9556062870" id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_8451" target="_blank" href="http://um-insight.net/in-the-world/global-health/bishop-calls-for-prayer-action-after-colorado-shooting/">http://um-insight.net/in-the-world/global-health/bishop-calls-for-prayer-action-after-colorado-shooting/</a><br clear="none"></span></div><div id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_8417"><span id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_6558">and<br clear="none"></span></div><div dir="ltr" id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_8487"><span id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_6558"><a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" class="yiv9556062870" id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_8602" target="_blank" href="http://um-insight.net/in-the-world/global-health/united-methodists-responding-to-las-vegas-massacre/">http://um-insight.net/in-the-world/global-health/united-methodists-responding-to-las-vegas-massacre/</a><br clear="none"></span></div><div dir="ltr" id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_8707"><span id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_6558">and (for hope-filled, helpful local pastoral strategies):<br clear="none"></span></div><div dir="ltr" id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_8740"><span id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_6558"><a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_9866" target="_blank" href="https://www.umcjustice.org/documents/51">https://www.umcjustice.org/documents/51</a><br clear="none"></span></div><div id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_9791"><span id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_6558">Marshall</span></div> <div class="yiv9556062870qtdSeparateBR" id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_10467"><br clear="none"><br clear="none"></div></div></div></div><div class=".yiv9556062870yahoo_quoted"> <div id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_10523" style="font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:24px;"> <div id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_10522" style="font-family:HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif;font-size:16px;"> <div class="qtdSeparateBR"><br><br></div><div class="yiv9556062870yqt9865170685" id="yiv9556062870yqt76757"><div dir="ltr" id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_10521"><font id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_10520" size="2" face="Arial"> On Tuesday, November 7, 2017 11:40 AM, John Epps via OE <oe@lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:<br clear="none"></font></div> <br clear="none"><br clear="none"> <div class="yiv9556062870y_msg_container" id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_10526"><div id="yiv9556062870"><div dir="ltr" id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_10525">This is a bit long, but represents a conversation I'm having with a friend of many years.<div><br clear="none"></div><div id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_10528"><span id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_10527" style="font-size:12.8px;">Our church had a guest preacher yesterday -- she was a professor of preaching (homiletics) at Candler at Emory, a Methodist seminary. She was a member of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) church, and she PREACHED a sermon. It was like poetic rap on steroids, passionate, verbally articulate and diverse, a huge number of words in a little time. The preaching courses I took were more about content than style, but she had them both. I've never before heard a congregation applaud a sermon, but this upper-middle class, mostly white church gave her a rousing ovation. Besides that, it was a profound message: "Words matter: be thankful and say so. God is good, so thank God, whatever happens."</span></div><div id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_10548"><div style="font-size:12.8px;"><br clear="none"></div><div id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_10547" style="font-size:12.8px;">I find that hard after the Texas shooting at the church. Since Joe used to contend that to pray about something without developing a plan to deal with it was beyond useless (I think he used the phrase, "like pissing in the wind"), I've been trying to think of some effective ways to reduce the gun violence. Here's what I've come up with:</div><div id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_10567" style="font-size:12.8px;">1. I'm not against gun ownership: I've owned cap pistols and water guns, a BB gun, a 22, a 4-10, and a 12 Gage, and learned to fire and dismantle an M-1 rifle. My dad and brother owned numerous types of shotguns when skeet shooting was a hobby and bird hunting was common.</div><div id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_10568" style="font-size:12.8px;">2. Advocating "gun control" has not worked and does not have much likelihood of passing in the future. It's a direct tactic, and according to Sun Tzu, indirection is needed to win.</div><div id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_10569" style="font-size:12.8px;">3. The control of tobacco might provide some ideas. Smoking stopped being a popular and expected behavior.</div><div id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_10588" style="font-size:12.8px;">4. Suppose a curriculum were to be introduced at the grammar school level and expanded to upper grades on safe use of firearms. Even NRA might support that. It might include a module that showed assault weapons were for military use only.</div><div id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_10589" style="font-size:12.8px;">5. Suppose media (TV, movies, and computer games) were to cut out shooting people as a major emphasis (as they cut out smoking years ago). Probably cowboy movies could be an exception.</div><div id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_10590" style="font-size:12.8px;">6 Suppose a heavy tax were to be imposed on the sale of guns, with taxes higher for the more lethal weapons (like assault rifles), the revenue to be used for mental health upgrades. (Colorado uses marijuana tax for upgrades to infrastructure, and gambling taxes for parks and recreation). It could also be used for a buy-back scheme, such as has worked in Australia.</div><div id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_10733" style="font-size:12.8px;">7. Opposition from the firearms industry could be ineffective, like opposition from the tobacco industry adapted to the no-smoking movement.</div></div><div id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_10770" style="font-size:12.8px;"><br clear="none"></div><div style="font-size:12.8px;">Those were my initial thoughts. My friend responded:</div><div id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_10780" style="font-size:12.8px;"><blockquote id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_10779" type="cite" style="font-size:12.8px;"><div id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_10778"><div class="yiv9556062870gmail_extra" id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_10777"><div class="yiv9556062870gmail_quote" id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_10776"><blockquote class="yiv9556062870gmail_quote" id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_10775" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex;"><div id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_10774"><div id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_10773"><span class="yiv9556062870gmail-im" id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_10772"><span class="yiv9556062870gmail-im" id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_10771">"I was visiting Memphis and we went to purchase 25 cal ammo for a pistol I gave my son to carry while hunting. He had been unable to find it elsewhere. Set up in a very large room there were guns of every imaginable description, even an M1 . The rifles were not your 22 but the strange looking weapons shown on t v after an event like Texas or L.V. (Attendees included) a group of young men most speaking Spanish pooling their money and buying multiple handguns. There appeared to be a table set up to complete forms and I suppose for background computer checks so it did not seem to be only a buy and walk out situation. Other attendees were decked out in camo, many had beards transported in most cases to the show by pickup truck. I could not estimate the number of assault type rifles available. Vests with plates were abundant or Kevlar. If you could qualify to buy then every thing you could possibly need to do what the recent attackers have done was there, simply for the buying. And the crowd was diverse too, not just Hispanics and beards and camo. </span></span><div id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_10835"><br clear="none"></div><div id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_10837"><span class="yiv9556062870gmail-im" id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_10836">"There likely is not a single answer. It was difficult to grow up in the small town south without gun exposure but to the same type weapons you described, not those I saw with modified clips to hold 40 or more bullets. I frankly could think of no reason to have one of those assault types though there is an argument others have them so I need to stay even (small arms race). </span><div id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_10838"><br clear="none"></div><div id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_10929">"Your ideas 4,5 and 6 are entirely reasonable. The problem comes when one side says "no guns at all" or uses the word "control". Somewhere in between with a riddance over time of the assault type outside the military would help. Evil people can do their damage even with cars and trucks as we have seen.</div></div></div></div></blockquote><div id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_11056"> </div><div id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_11076"><span id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_11075" style="font-size:12.8px;">"You and I are unlikely to see an answer. If you want "gun control" you are a flaming liberal and if not you are a damned republican nra loving maniac. It is all so politicized that the truth gets buried. But I do believe if everyone could go to one gun (and knife) show, a reasonable dialogue could begin."</span><br clear="none"></div><div id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_11419"><span style="font-size:12.8px;"><br clear="none"></span></div><div><br clear="none"></div><div id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_11420">We need to activate our "Trans establishment" posture, and work out some practical ways to curb gun violence. What are your prescriptions?</div></div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_11425" type="cite" style="font-size:12.8px;"><div id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_11424"><div class="yiv9556062870gmail_extra" id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_11423"><div class="yiv9556062870gmail_quote" id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_11422"><div id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_11421"> </div><div id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_11426"><br clear="none"></div><div id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_11427"> </div></div></div></div></blockquote><div><div><div class="yiv9556062870gmail_extra"><div class="yiv9556062870gmail_quote"><blockquote class="yiv9556062870gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex;"><div><div><span class="yiv9556062870gmail-im"></span><div><span class="yiv9556062870gmail-im"></span><div><br clear="none"></div></div></div></div></blockquote></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>_______________________________________________<br clear="none">OE mailing list<br clear="none"><a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:OE@lists.wedgeblade.net" target="_blank" href="mailto:OE@lists.wedgeblade.net">OE@lists.wedgeblade.net</a><br clear="none"><a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" id="yiv9556062870yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1510074133052_11439" target="_blank" href="http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net">http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net</a><br clear="none"><br clear="none"><br clear="none"></div></div> </div> </div> </div></div></body></html>