Some Florida Politicians Say More Rear Ends in Pews Would Lead to Less ‘Pew Pews’ in the Streets

While there are a ton of anti-gun violence events taking place around the country this month, far too many of them are just an excuse to demand more gun control. 

In Tallahassee, Florida, though, one recent press conference held at the Tallahassee Urban League that featured Leon County Commissioner Carolyn Cummings, Tallahassee Mayor John E. Dailey, City Commissioners Dianne Williams-Cox, Jeremy Matlow and Curtis Richardson, it seems like there was less talk about infringing on our fundamental Second Amendment rights and more discussion about the role that faith can play in reducing violence. 

“We also need to get back to the basics of taking them, exposing them to Christian education. We need to take our children back to church,” Cummings said. “Teach them Christian principles and let them know that they are somebody, and not only that, that they can grow up to be productive members of our community without the gun violence.”

Williams-Cox told her own stories of growing up in the church: “Commissioner Cummings taught my children in Sunday school and I taught her children in Sunday school, but the agreement was, if you go out on Friday or Saturday you got to get up and go to church on Sunday … If you want to have fun you’ve got to go to church.”

I don’t disagree with any of this, but it’s easier said than done. We can’t forcibly send wayward teens to church, and if we could guarantee that their butts were in church pews on Sunday morning we couldn’t force them to take the sermon they hear to heart. 

I don’t know how many Tallahassee-area churches are engaged in any kind of street outreach, but maybe that’s something that could be encouraged. If faith leaders are following social media, they could learn where these pop-ups and street takeovers are planned and dispatch teams of volunteers to be on hand when the teens show up. If nothing else, their presence might help de-escalate any beefs that turn violent, and they could serve as watchful eyes and eyewitnesses to any trouble that does happen. 

Are there any pastors in Tallahassee (or elsewhere) who’d be interested in doing that? When it comes to activist clergy, it seems to me that far too many adopt the Father Michael Pfleger position of advocating and agitating for more gun control instead of doing the harder work of reaching out to those who are most likely to commit violent crimes… and be the victim of “gun violence” as well. 

Still, it’s good to see these officials talking about something other than gun control, even if what they’d like to see won’t be all that easy to implement. You can’t expect a teen who’s had no exposure to church and the power of faith to just decide to walk in the door of a sanctuary on Sunday morning uninvited. You need to reach them where they’re at, and that means being present at these large and rowdy gatherings on Friday and Saturday nights; not just to evangelize about the redemption and grace offered by the Lord, but to extend an invitation and let them know that they are welcome on Sunday morning.  

Editor’s Note: The radical Left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.

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