Taylor Schumann grew up in a God, Guns, and Country culture. Her family owned guns and, with them, she staunchly defended the God-given right to gun ownership. Then she was shot. At work. And no good guy with a gun stepped in to save her. It sparked her rethinking of long-held assumptions. She tells her story, and explains her newfound advocacy, in When Thoughts and Prayers Aren’t Enough: A Shooting Survivor’s Journey into the Realities of Gun Violence.
The book is divided into two, roughly equal, parts. In the first half, she tells the story of the shooting she survived and the physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual fallout that followed. She follows this in the second half by detailing her advocacy for gun control.
It stands out to me that, unlike many other trauma survivors, Schumann is not shy to speak of herself as a “victim.” She does not reject the term “survivor,” which many others prefer, but she does acknowledges that she was a victim of a traumatic crime and not resonate with the stories of other survivors who publicly portray their bravery by overcoming trauma and openly forgiving the perpetrator. Her ordeal did not shatter her faith, but it also did not transform her into a campaigner of embracing her attacker in public forgiveness.
Surviving was not easy for Schumann. Though she was raised to love God, trust was not easy. “It is hard and heavy work to reconcile your faith with your circumstances when your life looks different than you thought it would.” She lived the tension between gratitude and anger: “I was grateful to God for saving me, but also angry about it happening at all. I couldn’t make all these feelings fit together.” Ultimately, though, she learned to trust even more deeply through her ordeal: “God used this horrific, awful, inexcusable thing that happened to me to replace my shallow faith with one that could, and did, persist through anything.”
Schumann transparently details the pain of crafting a suitable victim impact statement for the sentencing—one that honestly stated the reality of her trauma without giving the shooter the satisfaction of knowing how negatively his actions had affected her. While she does not wallow in bitterness, hers is not a story of bold, public forgiveness. She does not claim to have figured out a great new purpose in life after surviving the shooting. Hers is story of struggling to live every day trusting God.
She describes the hollow sentiments of well-meaning friends and acquaintances who suggested that God must have big plans for her, having brought her through the ordeal. She transparently details the reality of her lengthy (and incomplete) recovery, reminding her readers that victims and survivors wrestle with the reality of trauma long after the media has moved on to the next big story.
Having detailed her attack and ongoing recovery, Schumann goes on to describe her newfound passion for gun control advocacy. The second half of the book takes some intentional effort to digest. Statistics and studies are often open to interpretation and there will inevitably be alternative studies from the other side of the fence by defenders of gun ownership.
Nevertheless, Schumann skilfully utilises the information at her disposal to present a compelling argument for stricter gun control policies. She details the sickening cost of gun violence in the United States, addresses many of the objections to gun control advocates, and offers helpful theological insight into the debate.
Schumann is convinced that gun violence undercuts God’s vision of abundant life and community. She exposes and laments the silence of the church, which rings loudly in the ears of survivors and families of victims. Hers is only one story, but it is a story will worth listening to.
As a South African, I find the American obsession with gun ownership perplexing. I struggle with Christians who refuse to acknowledge the carnage traceable to gun violence. I don’t understand the reticence of life-affirming Christians to embrace common sense laws that seem to reduce gun violence. When Thoughts and Prayers Are Not Enough presents a strong argument for gun control that is not easy to dismiss. Open-minded readers will benefit from Schumann’s story and advocacy. This is a valuable resource for any Christian to digest.
Taylor S. Schumann
Author
Taylor S. Schumann is a survivor of the April 2013 shooting at a college in Christiansburg, Virginia. She is a writer and activist whose writing has appeared in Christianity Today, Sojourners, and Fathom. She is a contributor to If I Don’t Make It, I Love You: Survivors in the Aftermath of School Shootings. Taylor and her family live in Charleston, South Carolina.