Colorado Faith Communities United to End Gun Violence wishes you a Happy New Year! May 2024 be a year in which all people are safe and conflicts are settled with conversations rather than with weapons!

As we enter our 10th Anniversary Year, we are very grateful for all our members and for the work that you do to end gun violence throughout the year.

In this issue of the digest:

• CFCU Vigil December 6 to Remember All the Murdered and Survivors of Gun Violence on December 6

• More Love Pours in for Susan Oakes

• Building your Rapid Response Network

• CFCU Member Dues: You Can Now Pay on Line

• Everything You Wanted to Know about Gun Violence in Colorado Now on One Website

• Gifford Law Center Ranks Colorado in the Top 10 for Strength of Its Gun Laws

• Supreme Court and Gun Violence Issues

• CFCU Calendar for January and beyond

• Our Featured Congregation: Lakewood United Church of Christ

CFCU Participates in Vigil to Honor All Victims of Gun Violence on December 6

Vigils were held during the day and evening, providing many opportunities for members and friends to take part in the remembrance by standing up to gun violence with signs and light. Altogether 27 CFCU congregations participated in vigils.

Congregations in Downtown Denver held a candlelit processional beginning at Central Presbyterian and ending with a prayer service at First Baptist. Other downtown congregations participating were: First Mennonite Church, Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, St. Andrew’s Episcopal

In Park Hill, participating congregations were:  Messiah Community Church, Montview Presbyterian, St. Thomas Episcopal, Temple Micah, Capitol Heights Presbyterian, Sixth Avenue UCC, St. Paul ECC, and in Arvada:  Arvada United Methodist Church, Living Light of Peace

Article submitted by Susan Oakes, First Plymouth

Tribute by Gene Drumm, friend of CFCU

'Almost since its inception, Susan has been the foundation of CFCU. Without her attention to detail, administrative skills and spreadsheet mastery, tremendous capacity for taking on work, willingness to go above and beyond, and doing all with warmth and kindness, we would not be at this stage in our development. 

You can still add your personal message of gratitude to Susan (and read all the others) here: Kudoboard

Building Your Rapid Response Network for the Upcoming Legislative Session

Rapid Response Networks (RRNs) are an essential part of CFCU’s Advocacy work. An RRN is a list of congregants in each CFCU member congregation who are interested in responding to notifications about upcoming legislative votes on gun-related bills in the Colorado General Assembly. 

If your congregation doesn’t have an RRN or you’d like to expand your RRN, now is the ideal time. The busyness of the holiday season is passed, and the General Assembly will convene its 2024 session on January 10th. 

Just about all that’s needed is a notice in your congregation’s e-newsletter, ideally in the first half of January. You can also make copies of the notice and put them in the front entrance of your congregation’s building. Click here to see sample wording for an invitation to join a RRN.

For more information on developing an RRN, the CFCU Advocacy Team created a how-to PowerPoint. You can find the link on the homepage of CFCU’s website: https://www.cfcu-co.org/

Article submitted by Stephanie Greenberg, Congregation Bonai Shalom

CFCU Congregation Member Dues: Getting Organized in 2024

We are excited to have 55 congregational members engaged in our faith-based coalition to prevent gun violence in Colorado! As you know, one aspect of officially connecting with CFCU in order to access resources and support to promote gun violence activities is paying annual dues of $100 (This amount was increased from $75 in late 2023).

Due to the pandemic and other organizational challenges, CFCU has been fairly flexible over the past several years with regard to this member obligation. However, now that CFCU is a Project of the Nonprofit Development Center, we are tightening up our infrastructure and implementing systems that will enable us to more effectively lead our coalition toward fulfilling our mission to reduce the number of deaths and injuries caused by the improper use of firearms.

Effective January 1, 2024, we are asking all member congregations to pay their dues on the same timeline with the $100 payment submitted prior to January 31, 2024. (Please note: congregations that paid their dues in the last quarter of 2023 will be marked CURRENT as of 1/31/24.)

Member dues may be submitted online or via check. Click here to pay online - you’ll have the option to submit the $100 dues payment via credit card, Venmo, PayPal, Google Pay, or bank transfer. To pay with a check, please make it out to: CNDC FBO CFCU and mail it to Executive Committee Member, Cheryl Fleetwood, at 7897 E. 24th Avenue, Denver, CO 80238. Since the CO Nonprofit Development Center is now our fiscal sponsor, they process our checks “for the benefit of” CFCU. 

Thank you for your commitment to membership in CFCU! Together we WILL make a greater impact in 2024 as we get more organized AND celebrate our organization’s 10-year anniversary! If you have any questions, Cheryl can be reached at cfcucolorado@gmail.com.

Article submitted by Cheryl Fleetwood, Central Presbyterian Church.

Everything You Wanted to Know about Gun Violence in Colorado Now on One Website

The Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment Office of Gun Violence Prevention (OGVP) recently rolled out the new Colorado Gun Violence Prevention Resource Bank.  Compiled by the Injury & Violence Prevention Center at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus the resource bank is designed to help the public  understand what gun violence looks like in Colorado and explore evidence-based solutions.  Utilizing a public health approach, the resource bank features:

• A Data Dashboard broken down by types of gun violence utilizing data sources from the Colorado Department of Health and Environment, CBI and CDC among others.  Data can be broken down by state and county.  Also includes data about gun sales and use.

• Various prevention approaches found to be effective like ERPO, safe storage and community violence intervention.  Also addresses upstream factors

• A comprehensive discussion of firearm-related issues specific to Colorado, including a Colorado firearm laws and regulations page. This section also includes a historical perspective on firearms in Colorado.

• How gun violence disproportionately impacts different populations

• Fact sheets on a wide range of issues

Critical Need for this Resource

Reliable data is the first step for taking a public health approach to gun violence.  Due to the previous absence of this kind of vital information, CFCU has published its own Profile of Gun Violence in Colorado https://www.cfcu-co.org/resources for the last several years thanks to the assistance of CFCU’s  Co-Chair, Stephanie Greenberg, who is a retired research/evaluation professional.  So we are very pleased to see the roll-out of this valuable, new resource bank.  Please use these credible resources (Resource Bank and Profile) before googling gun violence information for your congregation.

Article submitted by Alana Smart, Congregation B'nai Havurah

Giffords Law Center Ranks Colorado in Top 10 for Strength of Its Gun Laws

Every year, Giffords Law Center ranks states based on the strength of their gun laws. This year, for the first time, Colorado made the top 10 with an A- rating, based primarily on state laws passed in the last several years. Colorado was also rated as “most improved,” rising from 14th to 10th place between this year and last. 

In general, the stronger a state’s gun laws, the lower its firearm death rate. Unfortunately, Colorado’s firearm death rate isn’t consistent with its high ranking in gun law strength. Of the top 10 states in strength of gun laws, Colorado had the highest firearm death rate. Its firearm death rate was similar to North Carolina, Indiana, Idaho, and Kansas, all of which are ranked substantially lower in gun law strength. Colorado Ceasefire has suggested several reasons: a high rate of gun ownership, high firearm suicide rates, and uneven enforcement of state gun laws across counties. 

For more information on Giffords’ rankings of states: https://giffords.org/lawcenter/resources/scorecard/?scorecard=CO

Article submitted by Stephanie Greenberg, Congregation Bonai Shalom

Two Articles from the Supreme Court and Gun Laws

SCOTUS Won’t Block Illinois Law Banning Assault Weapons

On Dec. 14th, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to temporarily block an Illinois law that bans the purchase, sale, possession, and manufacture of assault-style weapons. The justices denied a request to intervene after two lower courts rejected requests to put the law on hold. There were no recorded dissents from Thursday’s order. (see more of this article HERE)

More from SCOTUS in its 2023-2024 Session

SCOTUS will decide during its current session whether a “bump stock” – an attachment that transforms a semiautomatic rifleinto a fully automatic, assault-style weapon – is a “machinegun,” which is generally prohibited under federal law.(see more of this article HERE -see second article)

Articles submitted by Stephanie Greenberg, Congregation Bonai Shalom

CFCU January Calendar

• January 10: 10:00 am - 2:00 p.m. CFCU Steering Committee Planning Session, in person at Lakewood UCC, 100 Carr St #1309

• January 16: 10 - 12 p.m. Communications Meeting, in person at Calvary Baptist Church 6500 E Girard Ave. Please contact Daryl Foelske (dfoelske@gmail.com).

• January 16: 2 p.m. Advocacy Team Meeting. Please contact Stephanie Greenberg (researchswgreenberg@gmail.com) for agenda, zoom link, and volunteer opportunities.

• January 17: 11 a.m - 12:30 p.m. Public Health Strategies Meeting on Zoom, contact Alana Smart (alanaks@aol.com) for more information

• February 24: 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. Guns to Gardens at Denver Community Church, 1595 Pearl St, Denver, CO 80203

Our Featured Congregation of the Month: Lakewood United Church of Christ

Lakewood United Church of Christ joined CFCU in 2019, and have members who attend CFCU general meetings a rapid response network in place.

Daryl Foelske, a member of LUCC since he and his wife moved to Colorado in 2013, has been involved with CFCU as a member of the Steering Committee and the Communications Team. When asked about the issue of gun violence, Daryl says “As with most communities, gun violence has taken away the feeling of safety as our families of all ages go through their normal "every-day activities".  It is especially concerning of the steady growth of gun ownership within our community as well.