Protest Easy Guns

Raleigh-32

Transcripts from NPR's "All Things Considered" and "Morning Edition"
(air dates: Aug. 14-15, 2007)

A minister in Raleigh wants religious communities to take a stand
against gun violence.  Rachel Smith is the founder of God Not Guns, an
interfaith organization that seeks to raise awareness about gun
control.

"The debate about gun violence takes place pretty much exclusively in
the political arena.  And the debate seems to be around, did gun control
lose the election, or does gun control help a candidate?  I got
concerned that that debate just completely loses sight of the fact that
people in our country are dying every day."

Smith's latest project is organizing the Raleigh 32.  It's an event
where 32 people of various faiths will lie down in a public space to
represent the 32 victims who died at Virginia Tech.  Similar
demonstrations have been held in cities across the country since the
shootings last April.  The Raleigh 32 will take place on August 28th.

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A Raleigh minister is working to stage a protest against gun violence.
Rachel Smith started the God Not Guns coalition several months ago to
encourage religious groups to take a stand on gun control.  Now she's
organizing an event known as the Raleigh 32.  It's a demonstration
designed to remember the Virginia Tech victims and raise awareness about
gun violence.  Smith says she's hoping to duplicate a protest held in
Alexandria, Virginia.

"A group of 32 women went to a public place, and they all dressed in
black, and they wore ribbons with the Virginia Tech colors, and they lay
down for a few minutes, just to symbolize the 32 people who were
killed."

Smith says 32 is also the number of people killed by guns each day in
the U-S.  The demonstration will take place in Raleigh on August 28th.

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An interfaith group in Raleigh is holding a demonstration oppose gun
violence.  Reverend Rachel Smith started the God Not Guns coalition
several months ago.  She says the group bands religious communities
together to raise awareness about gun violence.

"The level of gun violence in our country is almost like a spiritual
crisis * that as a nation, that we are willing to tolerate the deaths
of almost 30,000 of our own neighbors every year.  We're losing 32
people every day to guns."

That's why Smith is organizing an event called the Raleigh 32 on
August 28th.  The number represents not only the people killed each day
by guns, but also the number of victims in the Virginia Tech shootings.
The 32 participants will lie down for several minutes in a public space
to protest gun violence and encourage stricter gun laws.  Demonstrations
like this have taken place across the country since the Virginia Tech
shootings in April.

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For more information, write to info@protesteasyguns.com.