Tim Frakes Productions

Gun Violence: The Faith Response

—

by

timfrakes
in , , , , , , , ,

In the wake of the Newtown, Conn tragedy, I am re-posting this link. Gun Violence: The Faith Response is a half-hour documentary I produced this fall for Sanctuary, an in-depth documentary program produced by the Greater Chicago Broadcast Ministries on issues and ideas at the intersection of life and faith broadcast on ABC, WLS-TV, and Channel 7.

Between January and September 2012, Chicago Police reported 2,632 weapons violations committed on the cities streets, parks, schools, homes and public buildings. In the same period, 384 were killed and 1895 were wounded.

The Emergency Stop the Violence Summit at historic First Baptist Congregational Church on the cities near west side drew religious leaders from Christian, Jewish and Islamic communities, as well as police, government and civic leaders. The event also featured three victims of gun violence. These are their stories of faith, grief and hope.

Comments

3 responses to “Gun Violence: The Faith Response”

  1. Christian Gun Owner Avatar
    Christian Gun Owner

    The closing statement says it all… PARENTS, guide your children, don’t ever let them make the mistakes Dimitrius (sp?) made.
    My fear is that this ‘documentary’ is one-sided and will not be honestly researched or presented. Nothing personally against you Tim but my impression has always been that you are a very left leaning individual.

    Yes, I know I’m making assumptions here but knowing ABC’s anti-gun owner (and anti-conservative and anti-Christian) bent, I’m expecting this to be another one-sided anti-gun owner piece attempting to place the blame of gun violence on the existence and presence of an inanimate object rather than addressing true issue at hand. Please understand I’m not making the statement here than conservative = Christian or that non-conservative Christian. That’s another argument entirely.

    Instead of stigmatizing guns, gun owners, and the gun lobby (more God fearing Christians in the gun lobby than in the ACLU I’ll bet…), perhaps Christians should be praying for and supporting kids and inner city parents. You want gun violence to end? Get rid of violence. I’ve grown up with guns all my life. I own one myself.

    Guess what, it’s never gone off by itself, it’s never taken possession of me and made me do something illegal or violent, it’s never wandered off at night by itself with mayhem in its mind (at least not that I’ve found out so far…).

    In the meantime, it’s here ready to fulfill the purpose for which it was designed. That is, the protection and defense of my home and family. That’s EVERY person’s duty and responsibility, including Christian men and women. When violence ends I’ll re-examine my opinion and support of the NRA and the ISRA.

    I can’t help but wonder when a sister documentary will come out demanding abolition of alcohol. Doesn’t alcohol cause more harm and damage than firearms? What about automobiles? More people are killed by automobiles by far than by firearms (suicides excluded).

    Let’s be fair minded on this issue. Until the wolves have all their teeth pulled, the sheep will need to be able to defend themselves. Frankly, as a Christian I consider that the only Shepherd I need or want is Christ. I don’t need a shepherd (government?) or sheepdogs (police?) when I’m being attacked by wolves, I need teeth.

    Remember, when seconds count, the police are only minutes away.
    Why do I carry a firearm? Because a cop is too heavy.

    Reply
    1. timfrakes Avatar
      timfrakes

      Dear Christian Gun Owner. It sure would be great if you added your name to the post. Also, I have an FOID card, am a gun owner and hunter. I’m also pro-life, voted for Ronald Reagan and am in favor of strong sentencing guidelines. If that makes me liberal leaning, then, perhaps we need a new definition. Tim

      Reply
  2. Andy Avatar
    Andy

    Nicely produced, as always, Tim! I really liked many of the key messages of the piece.

    Actually, if it wasn’t for the introductory comments by the correspondent, I wouldn’t sense concern about the piece. But when she dropped the “where’s the moral outrage against the gun lobby” I thought she lost credibility of this being about the “faith response” and more about a political statement.

    The record is not clear at all that gun control reduces violent crime. Though not a recent article, this NY Times piece shows that it’s not as simple as some might think: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/29/weekinreview/29liptak.html?pagewanted=all&_moc.semityn.www.

    Regardless, I continue to be impressed with how you masterfully capture and present a story, Tim. Nice job.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *