{"id":5377,"date":"2022-05-25T19:43:25","date_gmt":"2022-05-25T19:43:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/?p=5377"},"modified":"2022-05-27T17:46:46","modified_gmt":"2022-05-27T17:46:46","slug":"texans-plan-an-interfaith-protest-at-nra-convention-in-houston","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/article\/texans-plan-an-interfaith-protest-at-nra-convention-in-houston\/","title":{"rendered":"Texans Plan Interfaith Protest at Friday’s NRA Convention in Houston"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n American Civic Life<\/span>\n

Texans Plan Interfaith Protest at Friday’s NRA Convention in Houston<\/h1>\n
\n By
Monique Parsons<\/address><\/a>\n <\/div>\n

May 25, 2022<\/p>\n <\/div>\n

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A woman kneels as she pays her respects in front of crosses with the names of children killed outside of the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. (AP Photo\/Dario Lopez-Mills)<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n
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(Interfaith America<\/a>) \u2014 Outraged by the massacre of 19 children and two teachers inside a school in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday (May 24), organizers of an interfaith protest for stricter gun laws will gather outside of a Houston convention center on Friday where the National Rifle Association is holding its annual meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cCivil and human rights happen when you have interfaith leaders that come together,\u201d the Rev. Teresa Kim Pecinovsky of Houston said. \u201cWe have political power too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pecinovsky, a hospice chaplain and\u00a0children\u2019s book author<\/a>\u00a0who is affiliated with the Disciples of Christ denomination, was looking at social media Monday afternoon when news of the killings began filling her feed. She messaged Megan Dosher Hansen, a social media contact who lived nearby, asking if she knew of any faith groups gathering at the NRA meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI reached out to her and said, \u2018Why don\u2019t we co-organize an interfaith protest?\u2019 And she said, \u2018All right, I\u2019m on board.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Hansen, an elder in the Presbyterian Church USA, created a\u00a0registration page for the interfaith protest<\/a>, which is planned for 1 p.m. Central Time Friday outside the George R. Brown Convention Center. Among the scheduled speakers are former President Donald Trump, Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Senator Ted Cruz, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem as well as NRA officials.<\/p>\n

By Thursday morning, some 400 people had signed up and word was spreading on social media. The two began a phone campaign as well, reaching out to Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Catholics, and members of other Protestant denominations. \u201cWe\u2019ll gather and pray together and do a silent march through the convention center and come back out and recognize the victims,\u201d Hansen said.<\/p>\n

Texas gun laws are among the least strict in the nation; a law that went into effect September 1 allows people to carry handguns in most public places without permits or special training.<\/p>\n

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\"Demonstrators<\/p>\n

Demonstrators gather for a \u201cMarch for Our Lives\u201d protest for gun control legislation and school safety on March 24, 2018, in Houston. Students and activists across the country planned events in conjunction with a Washington march spearheaded by teens from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., where more than a dozen people were killed in February 2018. (AP Photo\/David J. Phillip)<\/span><\/p>\n

The protest is planned outside the NRA convention, the organizers said, to send a message to politicians who receive donations and support from the gun rights group. The NRA \u201cused to be an organization that is for hunters, and that\u2019s a sport that doesn\u2019t require AR-15s,\u201d Hansen said. \u201cWe just see so much tragedy that occurs at the end of a gun.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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