Season of Peace -- a response to a concern, and a word about bullying

On Sunday, July 17, my monthly column appeared in The Times Herald newspaper. The column was entitled Walking and working for a season of peace.

I appreciate some of the feedback I got on the article, and it made me realize I ought to share two things, by way of update.

First, I believe the proliferation of illegal hand guns on our streets has to be addressed and is rightly part of any comprehensive approach to addressing youth and gun violence.

My position here -- for all the NRA supporters -- is not fundamentally an encroachment or infringement upon the right to bear arms.

But we have to be honest, guns do get on the streets illegally through legal purchases, otherwise known as "straw" purchases. A straw purchase is when someone who can legally buy a gun or guns, goes into a shop and does so -- only to turn around and sale that firearm on the street to someone who is not able to buy a gun legally.

In 2009, I worked with "Heeding God's Call," an ecumenical gathering of people of faith (primarily Christian) from around the county to witness for peace. Among the issues that the gathering took up that was local was the issue of gun violence and this specific issue of straw purchases.

For months, Heeding God's Call witnessed outside of Colossimo's Gun Shop to attempt to convince the owner to sign a voluntary "Code of Conduct." Ultimately, when local and federal prosecutors got involved, their investigation led to the gun shop closing its doors.

However, the ability to tackle straw purchases was made possible by the activism of the faith community, and I'm glad I was a small part of inspiring this effort.

The code of conduct, in fact, further demonstrates the type of collaboration needed in this fight. It did not originate with clergy, but rather with America's mayors.

Finally, while this is a peaceful activism I helped launch in Philadelphia, and Philadelphia seems to often be a dirty word in Norristown, the fact is we must come to grips with the realities of violence in our inner ring suburban communities.

As I have said before, I work at a church in Philadelphia, and so I come face to face with violence routinely. But those whom my parish serves do not exclusively come from the city.

Recently, my church awarded scholarships to two young men -- brothers, who had lived in Landsdowne, a community much like Norristown.

But after the high schoolers were bullied in school and were victims of violence and even witnessed a homocide, their mother made the dramatic, but necessary choice to move to another suburb that was safer, and where her sons could complete their high school education, graduating with honors.

I was deeply moved by learning of this family's struggle, and made aware that this happens in Norristown as well.

Early on the campaign trail in 2009, shortly after I encountered Carter Duncan's family, which mourned his homicide, I met another family on Stainbridge Street, forced to move because their daughter was being bullied at the high school, and there seemed to be nothing anyone could do to stop the increasing presence of gang conflict.

So, I want people to know that this violence includes bullying, and the bullying must be addressed. We cannot simply blame Philly transplants for our problems, as there are people from everywhere in Norristown, including multi-generational Norristownians, whose sons and daughters perpertrate or are victims of this violence.

Moreover, I am not ignoring the illegal gun issue at all. That can appropriately be a part of any multi-pronged effort to confront this problem.