CROWN POINT - A local activist group who call themselves "Faith in Action" will be protesting outside of a gun show at the Lake County Fair Grounds this weekend. The group is from the First Unitarian Church of Hobart. Maggie Reister, who serves as President of the Board of Trustees for the church, says Faith in Action will be putting its name into practice with a peaceful demonstration.
"The protest involves the First Unitarian Church of Hobart Faith in Action, the Progressive Democrats of America Calumet Region and Progressives in Action Northwest Indiana," Reister says. "The protest is against assault weapons."
Reister says the group, like many Americans, were stunned at the last mass shooting of a school, killing children, and Faith in Action wants to get their message and their concerns out to the public.
"The question just hangs over our country 'what to do, what to do,' and it's very frightening, it's upsetting and you know it makes people angry and so we clash with our right to bear arms which of course is a constitutional right and we really want to have a conversation about common sense sensible gun laws, things like banning assault rifles," Reister says.
The group wants the issue of private sale loopholes to be addressed. They also want background checks to be strengthened. They want to influence existing laws that serve to protect us and our children. Reister emphasizes that Faith in Action is a peaceful, friendly activist group.
"They call themselves Faith in Action because that's one of the things that Unitarian Universalists believe in," Reister says. "It's putting our faith into action and standing up for justice in the world."
Reister says the group's protest will be a peaceful event, which will showcase peoples' right to protest and all involved want to be respectful and courteous of one another.
