Back in AUG we reported on the girl’s softball team in the Willamette OR area that was raffling off a donated AR – 15 rifle. The purpose of the raffle was to raise funds to pay for their trip to a softball competition, the West Regional Tournament, which was held in Lancaster CA. The episode was an opportunity for the gun-control lobby to state what a crazy idea it was for teenage girls to raise money in this way and for the pro-gun faction to shout about their 1st Amendment rights.
Someone who decided to do something about getting another gun off the street was the Revd Jeremy Lucas, rector of Christ Church in Lake Oswego. Jeremy used $3000 in discretionary funds and other donations to buy 150 of the raffle tickets. He won the raffle and the AR – 15 which he intended to have formed into an art object. However, the rector got into some hot water with the Law for a short while when he transferred the rifle to a parishioner to lock in his gun cabinet for safe keeping. In doing so he may have violated an Oregon gun law passed in 2015. The County Prosecutor chose not to file charges against Father Jeremy because there wasn’t enough evidence to prove that he committed a crime.
Father Jeremy’s plans for the rifle changed over the last few months and he was in the parish parking lot yesterday, under a few tents to have his “sword beaten into a plowshare.” Gathered with the rector and his flock was Mike Martin from RAWtools, a Colorado Springs-based Christian organization. It was Mike’s task to dismantle the rifle and transform it into three garden implements. Mike & Jeremy sawed the rifle into a few pieces that then became the gardening tools under Mike’s hand. Mike’s organization has disabled many guns & rifles in the course of their ministry.
Father Jeremy is taking one of the tools with him next week as he travels to Washington DC for the 14 DEC interfaith National Vigil for All Victims of Gun Violence which is being held on the 4th anniversary of the Sand Hook Elementary School shootings. An AR – 15 was one of the weapons in the possession of the young man who slaughtered 27 children & adults, including his mother, before killing himself.
In conjunction with the national campaign, the Christ Church parish is holding a Gun Violence Prevention Sabbath at 10 am on 18 DEC. Everyone is welcome to attend the service.
Christ Church Episcopal Parish
1060 Chandler Rd
Lake Oswego OR
The facts and photos were gathered from the story on the Lake Oswego Review.