Title: Unique ministry 'targets' gun owners
Date: July 30, 1999
Disciples News Service
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Contact: news@cm.disciples.org
99a-52
INDIANAPOLIS (DNS) -- A California Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) congregation aimed a unique ministry at gun owners, triggering the attention of the National Rifle Association and national news media coverage.
The idea came to the Rev. Karen Komsak Davis, pastor of First Christian Church, Glendora, while she was driving in her car. She heard that the mayor of San Diego was passing out free gun trigger locks. "I thought, 'what a great and simple response to gun violence!' So I decided to buy a hundred trigger locks out of my minister's discretionary fund," she said.
Davis invited the Rev. Doug Hodson, pastor of a United Methodist congregation down the street in the Los Angeles bedroom community to join her in the effort. He agreed to buy a hundred trigger locks too.
The media hungrily snapped up the story. The Glendora paper ran it on page one. The Los Angeles Times unholstered a piece. Los Angeles TV stations joined the hunt. CNN taped FCC's Sunday worship as part of its coverage and National Public Radio featured the gun lock ministry. "Needless to say, what we expected to be a small gesture to reduce accidental shootings and/or easy access to loaded guns has turned into quite an affair," said Davis.
The media coverage spurred a cautionary call from a woman with the U.S. Department of Justice. She worried about liability and suggested a liability release form and that the churches buy cable-style locks instead of simple trigger locks. Installation of the cable lock starts with an unloaded gun. It both disables the gun's firing mechanism and prevents loading of the weapon. It works with a variety of handgun and rifle types and shotguns.
Davis' brother put her in touch with a Las Vegas-area gun store, whose owner donated his inventory of 132 cable locks just three days before the July 19 start of distribution. He had seen the story in his local paper. The dealer also connected Davis with the manufacturer which has supplied the product to the churches at cost.
The National Rifle Association got into the act after reporters called its people for quotes on the give-away. The NRA supplied the Glendora campaign with some gun safety brochures and posters featuring guns with locks.
To date, the Glendora Disciples and Methodist congregations have given away more than 250 gun locks to people in the congregations and others who have heard about the ministry through the media. The Glendora police department donated $240, enough for 133 locks. Davis says FCC and the United Methodist Church of Glendora will continue the ministry as long as donations support it.
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