Michigan Episcopalians among hundreds at Capitol gun violence prevention rally

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer speaks during an April 22 rally at the state Capitol in support of gun violence prevention. Behind her, holding an orange sign, is Michigan Bishop Bonnie Perry, convenor of Bishops United Against Gun Violence and cofounder of End Gun Violence Michigan. Photo: Dennis Boyd/Episcopal Diocese of Michigan

[Episcopal News Service] Episcopalians from Michigan’s three dioceses – Northern Michigan, Michigan and the Great Lakes – joined hundreds of others at the state Capitol in Lansing April 22 to rally for gun violence prevention. Many also met privately with legislators, asking them not to weaken laws aimed at reducing gun deaths that went into effect in February 2024.

Those laws, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer told rallygoers, have made the state safer, resulting in the lowest overall crime rate since 2015. It also allowed authorities to remove guns from nearly 300 people who posed a threat to themselves or others.

Legislators passed those laws in the wake of two mass school shootings – the 2021 shooting at Oxford High School, where four students were killed, and the 2023 shooting at Michigan State University, where three students were killed.

Michigan Bishop Bonnie A. Perry attended the rally. In information provided to Episcopal News Service by the diocese, Perry said, “We know that people everywhere in the state of Michigan can be safer, and that it is up to us to invite our leaders to remember their call, to remember their duty, to remember their humanity.”

The Diocese of Michigan co-sponsored the event, which it called Lansing Lobby Day. St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Lansing, located across the street from the Capitol, served as a gathering place for Episcopalians before the rally, where Perry delivered remarks.

Perry is one of the conveners of Bishops United Against Gun Violence, a network of more than 100 Episcopal bishops working to curtail gun violence, and also is a cofounder of End Gun Violence Michigan, which has fought for the past two years for passage of gun violence prevention laws.

She also moderated a “Faith Leadership for Gun Violence Prevention” panel session at a virtual gun violence prevention summit on Jan. 30, 2024, just before the new Michigan laws went into effect.

For Northern Michigan Bishop Rayford Ray, who also attended the rally, the issue of gun violence is personal, having known people who took their lives with a gun. “Suicide is really an issue for the Upper Peninsula [of Michigan],” he said. “It’s kind of silent, but it’s there.”

For the Rev. Barry Randolph, priest and pastor at Detroit’s Church of the Messiah, reducing gun violence is a major emphasis in his ministry. He and 30 members of his congregation attended the rally. “This is about making sure our government leaders understand the importance of keeping people safe,” he said.

For 18 years Randolph and the church have sponsored “Silence the Violence” rallies that have become a major part of the statewide gun violence prevention movement. The march in 2024 drew hundreds of people, including then-U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, who now is a U.S. senator; Michigan Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist; Detroit Police Chief James White and Detroit City Councilman James Tate.

— Melodie Woerman is an Episcopal News Service freelance reporter based in Kansas.