The purpose of the Gun Violence Prevention Ministry Team is to empower Unity Church and its membership to be active citizens in this process of dialogue and creation of policy. The team meets at 3:30 p.m. on the third Thursday of January, March, May, September, and November, both at church and via Zoom. Please let us know if you would like to join us by filling out the contact form.
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April 2026 commUNITY Newsletter
No More Broken Hearts Bob Albrecht, Gun Violence Prevention Team On Friday, April 13, members of Unity’s Gun Violence Prevention Team attended a profoundly powerful rally in the Capitol Rotunda coordinated by our team’s partner organizations, Protect Minnesota (legislative action and community education group) and Moms Demand Action (grassroots advocacy group), as part of 2026 Legislative Advocacy Days. A large sign on the podium read “NO MORE BROKEN HEARTS.” The eight speakers that morning included state senators and representatives who have authored bills promoting the elimination of high velocity, military style weaponry; an emergency room surgeon who attended to Annunciation Church victims (116 shots were fired in under two minutes at Annunciation on August 27 killing two young students); an Annunciation School parent whose son survived recounted the horrors of that late summer day; a pastor from Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in South Minneapolis; Michael, whose father was “snatched by gun violence” in 1986 spoke about growing up without Dad; and Diane, whose daughter Michelle, herself a mom and student at St. Catherine’s, was shot through the head in 2014 by her former boyfriend in an act of intimate partner violence. Diane told of her family’s diligent yet failed efforts to get the boyfriend, a drug addict, admitted to psychiatric care before he murdered her daughter. Each speaker’s story was beyond heart wrenching. State Senator Heather Gustafson expressed her belief, based on conversations with many of her conservative constituents, that resistance to passing sound gun violence legislation resides inside the capitol, more so than throughout the greater Minnesota community. “This work takes sustained effort. Don’t give up hope! And we must address the mental heath component,” was the message of Gustafson and her legislative colleagues. The presentation concluded with moving remarks by Angela Ferrell-Zabala, the national executive director of Moms Demand Action. Angela acknowledged our particularly brutal year of gun violence in Minnesota (572 gun related deaths in 2025 and the number one cause of child death). In her passionate voice that about raised the dome off the building she encouraged all citizens to honor the loss with action: “Don’t look away!” Join Unity’s Gun Violence Prevention Team to learn about how you can become involved in the critical work and conversations of our group. We meet every other third Thursday, 3:30-4:30 p.m., at church and via Zoom. Our next gathering will be on May 21. |
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Team Partners
Each ministry team at Unity Church is required to partner with organizations outside of the church. Unity's Gun Violence Prevention Ministry Team partners with Protect Minnesota and Moms Demand Action Minnesota.
