The Armor of Light

As calls for criminal justice reform in the U.S. are becoming all the more urgent, and the toll of gun violence mounts daily, Abigail Disney’s The Armor of Light turns to the unlikely journey of Evangelical minister Reverend Rob Schenk to explore the intersection of religion and the politics of gun control. Faced with a national epidemic of mass shootings and his own personal moral convictions, Schenk, a fixture of the political Right, is forced to confront conservatives and evangelicals with his impassioned belief in the need for gun control legislation. He breaks the political orthodoxy to ask: is it really possible to be both pro-gun and pro-life?

Reverend Schenck finds common ground when he meets Lucy McBath, the mother of Jordan Davis, an unarmed teenager who was murdered in Florida and whose death has cast a national spotlight on controversial “Stand Your Ground” laws. McBath, also a Christian but with opposite political leanings, decides to join forces with Schenk to compel others to consider the impact of America’s gun culture and persuade them of the possibility that people across party lines can come together.

Join New America NYC for a screening of The Armor of Light and a conversation with the film’s director and leading experts and advocates to consider the current stalemate of gun control and to ask if it’s possible to turn a deeply divided political culture into a new standard of nonpartisan political action.

Follow the discussion online using #ArmorofLight and following @ArmorTheFilm and @NewAmericaNYC.

PARTICIPANTS

Abigail Disney
Director and Executive Director, The Armor of Light
@abigaildisney

Lucia Kay McBath
National Spokesperson, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, Everytown for Gun Safety
@lucymcbath

Rabbi Andy Bachman
Director, Jewish Content and Community Ritual, 92nd Street Y
@andybachman

Eric Ruben
Fellow, Brennan Center for Justice, focusing on Second Amendment jurisprudence
@ericmruben