‘We can’t afford to lose hope’: interview with the Bishop of Colorado on gun violence

By Francis Martin

Bishop of Colorado Kym Lucas. Photo/The Episcopal Church in Colorado

Church Times

LAST year, there were 51 school shootings in the United States, Education Week reports: the highest since the news organization started keeping records. So far, in 2023, there have been 18 incidents in which people have been killed or injured in a school shooting.

“We’re in a pandemic that doesn’t require a face mask. We’re in a pandemic that is led by fear, that is led by doubt and violence in our schools,” the dean of East High School in Denver, Wayne Mason, said in March, after he was shot and injured by a student. Another member of staff was injured in the attack. The 17-year-old perpetrator was subsequently found dead with self-inflicted gunshot wounds.

In total, there have been 201 mass shootings in the U.S. this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, but, because the organization defines a “mass shooting” as one in which four or more people are injured or killed, events like the one at East High School, Denver, do not even make it into this statistic. So frequent are these occurrences that they leave barely a mark on the news cycle in the U.S., let alone political discourse.

For those involved, they can be life-changing, however. Bishop of Colorado Kym Lucas, was caught up in the lockdown that followed the shooting at East High School. She spoke about her experience, and reflected on the transformation required to end the pandemic of gun violence in the United States.

To read the interview in Church Times, click here. Follow us on social media

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