Local and national activists gathered Wednesday night in Jefferson City to raise awareness about the need to curb gun violence.
The Capital City was the only Missouri stop on the nationwide "Beating Guns" tour. The event was held at Quinn Chapel A.M.E. Church on Lafayette Street
Shane Claiborne and Michael Martin, authors of the new book "Beating Guns: Hope for People Who are Weary of Violence," are on a 37-city tour.
Quinn Chapel Pastor the Rev. Cassandra Gould, who is also executive director of Missouri Faith Voices, told the crowd that 51 years ago Wednesday, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous, "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech before he was assassinated the next day.
"As pastor of the oldest American entity in Jefferson City, I am often called when tragedies have occurred and I know first-hand what it means to have this violence break out in the community," Gould said. "Oftentimes, particularly in the African-American community, this violence becomes normalized because they have to live with it. I don't believe it's the will of God for God's people to live in violence."
Inspired by biblical prophets who urged people to "beat swords into plowshares," Clairborne and Martin invited those in the audience to take a hammer and transform a gun into garden tools. The authors said they were inspired to take action after the mass shooting in 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut where 20 children and six staff members were killed.
"After Sandy Hook, a lot of folks said 'never again,' but we've seen it happen again and again with almost 2,000 mass shootings since that time," Clairborne said. "Across the country you have a new generation rising up who don't want to continue to see people die like this. It doesn't need to be normal. There are folks that say this is not a gun problem, but a heart problem. Our message is, it's both. God heals hearts, but people change laws."
Martin, a Mennonite pastor-turned-blacksmith, said they want to provoke people's imaginations to think of new ways to deter gun violence.
"We make a gun every three seconds in this country, and we've found that you can make as many as three tools from that same gun," Martin said.
Organizers noted, last year, gun violence led to the death of two students at Lincoln University, which is not far from Quinn Chapel. D'Angelo Bratton-Bland, 23, was president of the LU Student Government Association when he was shot in December and eventually died from his wounds while he was out in the 200 block of Dawson Street, which is northeast of the LU campus. Authorities said he was not involved in any criminal activity when the shooting occurred. In August, another LU student, Charon Session, 23, was shot and killed during an apparent argument in the 900 block of Tanya Lynn Drive. Charon was a member of the Lincoln University Dance Troupe and Cheer Squad.
At Wednesday night's event, Chantilly Watson, a junior at LU from California, said she and many other LU students had been affected by the deaths of Charon and D'Angelo.
"Charon happened to be my best friend and his death and D'Angelo's happening within three-and-a-half months of each other has taken a huge toll on us," Watson said. "We've tried to pull together and love on each other more."
Watson believes gun violence is a community issue that has to be addressed.
"We need to focus on who is being affected by these senseless acts," Watson said. "It matters to all of us. This isn't something that is strictly affecting the African-American community. Despite the race of those being shot or who does the shooting, it affects the whole community."