A Prayer for the Navy Yard Victims and Family

[Christ_Patriot]

A Prayer for Murder Victims’ Families
By Maria Hines

God of merciful love, Help these families who are victims of murder
To accept the reality of such senseless acts of violence
Without, at the same time,
Succumbing to the despair of so great a loss.
May this violence become for them, instead,
A steppingstone toward greater union with you.
Teach them the forgiveness that was exemplified
By Jesus as he said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”
And through his redemptive love,
Show your mercy to the perpetrators of these crimes.
Fill the emptiness of their victim hearts With the fire of your divine love
So as to transform their losses Into a healing power
For themselves and for our world.
Amen.

 

[waltky]

Obama calls for end to epidemic of gun violence at Navy Yard memorial...

At Navy Yard memorial, Obama calls gun violence an epidemic
September 22, 2013 WASHINGTON -- Calling for an end to "an epidemic of gun violence," President Barack Obama on Sunday mourned the loss of the 12 who were killed in the mass shooting at Navy Yard, urging reforms to how firearms are regulated.

"Sometimes I fear there is a creeping resignation that these tragedies are just somehow the way it is, that this is somehow the new normal,” Obama said. "We cannot accept this.” Surrounded by victims' families and about 4,000 mourners at Marine Barracks Washington, just blocks from the Navy facility where the shooting took place, Obama and other officials led a memorial service, playing taps to honor the victims and tolling a bell as each if their names were read. "These patriots designed and built our ships," said Vice Adm. William Hilarides, commander of Naval Sea Systems Command. "These 12 members of our Navy team...were killed in the line of duty. They died in the service to our nation...in service they were just as committed to as any of us in uniform."

It was at Navy Yard that 34-year-old Aaron Alexis, a former Navy reservist, fatally shot 12 and wounded at least eight others, including a police officer, according to authorities. Alexis, who was reportedly suffering from mental health issues, was killed in a gunfight with police at the Sept. 16 shooting. Those killed were: Michael W. Arnold, 59; Martin J. Bodrog, 54; Arthur L. Daniels, 51; Sylvia R. Frasier, 53; Kathleen N. Gaarde, 62; John R. Johnson, 73; Mary Francis DeLorenzo Knight, 51; Frank E. Kohler, 50; Vishnu S. Pandit, 61; Kenneth B. Proctor, 46; Gerald E. Read, 58; and Richard Michael Ridgell, 52. They ranged from a security guard to civilian employees and contractors working in support of Naval Sea Systems Command, which is headquartered at the base.

Obama and first lady Michelle Obama met with the families beforehand, and offered each of them a hug during the service. “We revere the men and women in uniform who have paid the final price in defense of our freedoms. These nine men and three women deserve no less,” said Navy Secretary Ray Mabus. “Without these civilians at Naval Sea Systems Command, we literally would not have a fleet to put to sea.” Obama noted that the Navy Yard shooting is the fifth mass shooting that has occurred during his presidency -- preceded by Fort Hood, Tucson, Aurora and Sandy Hook -- and lamented that “politics are frozen and that nothing will change.”

“Do we care enough to spare other families the pain that is felt here today?” Obama asked. “"Our words and our prayers are not enough. If we really want to honor these 12 men and women, if we really want to be a country where we can go to work and go to school and walk our streets free from senseless violence without so many lives being stolen by a bullet from a gun, then we're going to have to change."

At Navy Yard memorial, Obama calls gun violence an epidemic - Stripes - Independent U.S. military news from Iraq, Afghanistan and bases worldwide

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Keeping guns away from people with mental illness is a complex issue
September 22, 2013 WASHINGTON — For years, federal and state governments have struggled to build a background check system that can keep guns out of the hands of mentally troubled people. Last week’s shootings at the Navy Yard shows that goal remains elusive.

The National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS, run by the FBI, is supposed to prevent gun sales to people with serious mental illness, as well as to convicted criminals, fugitives and domestic violence offenders. (Despite the system’s name, not all the people it flags have been accused of wrongdoing.) President Barack Obama, lawmakers and gun-control advocates have pushed hard to persuade states to turn over more of their mental health records to the federal system.

But the fix isn’t that simple. Because of problems in the mental health system and NICS’ definition of mental illness, the national background check system has proved to be a haphazard way of trying to identify who might be too dangerous to own a gun. Most mentally ill people never get treatment or aren’t recognized as being in crisis. Aaron Alexis, the Navy Yard shooter, said he had heard voices and expressed fears about a microwave-type machine penetrating his body. Police reported these complaints to the U.S. Navy last month, but officials decided Alexis did not pose a threat.

Only a small fraction of people with mental illness meet the federal standard for inclusion in the gun database: an involuntary commitment to a psychiatric hospital. And most people who do get involuntarily committed — under a typical 72-hour hold for observation — aren’t included, because their case never had a hearing. The result is a system that misses many people who are at risk of harming themselves or others, while it sweeps in thousands of others who are no longer dangerous or never were in the first place. “We set the bar pretty high before we take away someone’s gun rights,” said Mark Glaze, director of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, which is fighting for an improved background check system.

The pro-gun lobby and many mental health advocates would oppose more expansive rules, he noted, saying, “It’s hard to imagine we are going to lower the bar on that.” Some states use tougher standards than the federal rules to try to keep guns out of the hands of people with mental illness. California bans someone from buying a gun for five years after a 72-hour commitment. Even people who check themselves into a hospital can lose their ability to buy a gun. But California doesn’t send those names to the federal system; state officials decided their mental health records didn’t meet the federal guidelines. Of the 1.3 million such records in its state database, California has sent only 400,000 to NICS. That means someone with a recent 72-hour hospitalization would be banned from buying a gun in California but could clear a background check in another state.

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