Oklahoma religious leaders are speaking out against gun violence.
The Rev. Chris Moore with Tulsa’s Fellowship Congregational United Church of Christ said while the clergy members are not making specific policy recommendations, officials need to offer more than "thoughts and prayers."
"Frankly, anything would be good. I mean, because what we see is just a complete dedication to one direction. As far as gun laws go, it’s just remove all restrictions," Moore said.
Letters signed by 57 clergy members representing churches and faiths across Oklahoma were delivered to the capitol a day after several state lawmakers voted on measures to lessen restrictions on guns, including one to make it easier for school employees to carry guns on campus.
"There’s got to be some sort of moral argument pushback against this notion that our answer to this is more guns or our answer to this is that there are good guys and we just need to make sure that the good guys have the guns and the bad guys don’t have the guns," Moore said.
Moore said while there are other important issues to tackle, school shootings keep happening.
"And of course they keep happening, because the things that enable them — the proliferation of guns in the society and our attitude about the use of guns and the role of violence in our society — is going to keep pushing that as an issue," Moore said.
The letter said dedication to guns and violence is idolatry. It also said the right of children to be safe at school must outweigh the desire of some to own any gun they want.
