How Churches Can Shape America’s Dialogue on Guns

Gun violence once again forced its way to the center of America’s attention.

On a single Wednesday in September, three separate shootings broke through the national noise: conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed in Utah; two students were injured and a gunman killed in a Colorado school; and in Minneapolis, a Mass at a Catholic school ended in horror when two children were killed and 17 others injured.

These headlines punctuate a crisis that no longer feels like an emergency it feels like a way of life. The U.S. leads the developed world in mass shootings, and the conversation around gun reform feels stuck in an endless loop of outrage, inaction, and grief.

But what if the Church, instead of remaining reactive or silent, stepped forward to lead the national conversation?

Meet Taylor Schumann

Taylor Schumann isn’t a politician or a policy expert. She’s a survivor. Years ago, while working at a community college in Virginia, a student entered her building with a shotgun. He pointed it at her head, failed to disengage the safety, and she fled into a supply closet. He fired through the door, hitting her hand. She survived. So did another student he shot. But the aftermath changed everything.

“I used to be extremely pro-gun, pro-Second Amendment,” Schumann says. “But this was my introduction into what gun violence does to people and to communities.”

In her book Thoughts and Prayers Aren’t Enough, she shares not only her story, but her growing conviction that American Christians who should be known for their care for the vulnerable have become too comfortable with a culture of guns.

Where Is the Church?

Schumann recalls being supported by her church community after the shooting, but she also remembers what wasn’t said.

“There were no conversations about gun violence and why this was so terrible,” she says.

She remembers going to church the morning after the Pulse nightclub massacre the deadliest shooting in U.S. history at the time.

“I said to my husband, ‘Well, I hope we pray for them. I hope this is brought up in our church. It has to be.’” But it wasn’t. The silence stunned her.

That moment marked a shift.

“It was just a symbol for what I was witnessing happening,” she says. “Just move even closer to the guns.”

How to Talk About Guns With Other Christians

Schumann understands how difficult it is to have these conversations especially in churches where gun ownership is closely tied to personal identity or patriotism. Her advice?

Start with what you agree on.

“I assume you would also like to see less people die from gun violence. Do we agree on that?” she suggests. “Start from a place of agreement.”

But also know that not every conversation is worth having.

“It’s okay to step away. You didn’t ruin it. That wasn’t our only shot at meaningful gun reform.”

The Most Common Christian Pushback

The most frequent argument she hears? Self-defense.

“People who want to protect their loved ones, their home and see that as almost mandated by their Christian beliefs.”

But Schumann pushes back. Much of this is rooted not in biblical teaching, she says, but in fear-based cultural myths, like the long-debunked 1990s study claiming high rates of defensive gun use.

“What people heard was, ‘I don’t need a gun in case I have to use it. I need a gun for when I have to use it.’”

She rarely hears biblical reasoning for gun ownership.

“To hold something written down by men many years ago, almost in one hand, at the same level we’re holding a Bible in another hand it’s quite baffling to me.”

Christian Nationalism and the Constitution

Schumann believes many Christians confuse their identity as Americans with their calling as followers of Jesus. The Constitution, she says, should never hold equal weight with Scripture.

“There’s a lot of stuff in the Constitution that was not good. That’s why we have Amendments. It was written by humans.”

“We’re called to sacrificial love. That means sometimes we give up things we care about things we like because it’s better for the collective good.”

Is Change Even Possible?

Despite everything, Schumann remains hopeful.

“Some days I would like to give up. But I’ve got a two-and-a-half-year-old. He doesn’t know it yet, but his life has already been impacted by gun violence because his mom got shot at work.”

She points out that real reforms have happened since Parkland: red flag laws, extended background checks, even localized assault weapons bans. Change is possible it just takes persistent courage.

What Would You Say to Lawmakers?

“I would ask them to step outside of the space they occupy and try to listen to people’s stories,” she says. “Ask themselves if these ideas they’re pushing that more guns save lives are really true, or just something they think they have to keep believing because they always have.”

“We need brave people to say, ‘People are dying and I’m willing to figure out what we can do about that.’”

It’s Time for the Church to Lead

The Church doesn’t need to become a political machine to speak truth. It simply needs to prioritize people over policy, courage over silence, and Jesus over nationalism.

Christians should be leading the national conversation not ducking it. We are the ones with a Gospel big enough to confront violence, systems, and fear. And we are the ones called to love our neighbors enough to do something about it.

Because thoughts and prayers are important but they’re supposed to be the beginning of action, not the end.

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