12 religious gun-control activists face trial in Pa.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — It was no small matter for the Rev. J. Fred Kauffman, a man of faith and a law-abiding citizen for all of his 61 years, to defy a police officer’s order to leave a downtown gun shop.

All Kauffman wanted was for the owner of Colosimo’s Gun Center to pledge to sell firearms responsibly. When the owner refused, Kauffman decided there was too much at stake — too many illegal guns, too many senseless deaths — to just give up and go home. He blocked the store entrance and was arrested.

“I’m a timid farm boy from Nebraska,” Kauffman said. “I never make trouble.”

The Mennonite leader was one of 12 activists from the interfaith group Heeding God’s Call to be arrested at Colosimo’s over two days in January. They face trial Tuesday in Common Pleas Court in Philadelphia on charges including conspiracy, obstruction and disorderly conduct.

Heeding God’s Call is adding a different religious voice to the national gun-control debate, which members say has been dominated for too long by conservative Christians opposed to firearms regulation.

The group has partnered with more than three dozen Philadelphia-area congregations — including Jews, Muslims, Quakers, Catholics and Protestants — to work against gun violence.

“Every faith tradition calls on its followers to be their brother’s keeper,” said organization co-founder Bryan Miller.

About 30,000 people die of gun violence each year in the U.S., according to the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. In Philadelphia, the murder rate was more than one a day for several years until 2008, when 333 people were killed — most by gunfire.

Activists targeted Colosimo’s because of its record for selling guns later used in crimes. Colosimo’s sold 425 guns used in crimes — including at least 10 homicides — between 1989 and 1996, according to a 2003 Brady Center report compiled with data from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Owner James Colosimo, who said he was unaware of the statistics, stressed that he follows all laws. And, at 78, Colosimo said he’s not looking for any confrontations.