Their rallying phrase: Our united power builds a Greater Cleveland.
It’s strength in numbers. It’s getting loud enough to get something done.
The Greater Cleveland Congregations pulls people from more than 30 faith groups to make change from the ground up with one new goal: stopping illegal guns.
In a room of several hundred people Thursday, only a few could say they haven’t seen the impact of gun violence.
“I’ve seen a dozen people shot, six shot and killed,” said Cleveland resident Brandon Copleland. “Growing up on Wade Park, you become numb to it, you accept the unacceptable…[Guns are] all over the place, and now a days people shoot first and ask questions later.”
There’ve been more than 40 shooting deaths already this year across Cuyahoga County.
The youngest of them is 5-year-old Jermani Brooks, who was killed in a driveby shooting in January. “Jermani’s kindergarten class has had a difficult time with her death,” said her teacher at RG Jones School Laura Urbanek.
“We have seen this over and over and over. The feds are not going to act. The state is not going to act. It’s up to us to get something done,” said Donna Wineberger, a local therapist who serves as co-chair for GCC’s Gun Violence Team.
Months of research by Wineberger and the rest of the team identified a problem with gun supply. They heard it both in ancedotes, like Pastor Richard Gibson of Elizabeth Baptist Church shared Thursday. A child Gibson tutors told him he could get a gun in less than 10 minutes, with as little as $50.
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source: Wkyc.com
LOCAL NEWS: Interfaith Group Hopes Stop Gun Violence, Squeeze Supply was originally published on praisecleveland.com
