Rev. Pfleger Raises Flag Upside Down To Protest Gun Violence (VIDEO)

A South Side priest known for his outspoken activism flew the U.S. flag upside down outside his church Tuesday night to urge lawmakers to pass stricter gun control laws, NBC Chicago reports.

The Rev. Michael Pfleger of Saint Sabina's Church told parishioners that too little is being done to stop gun violence. The crowd sang a praise hymn as the inverted flag was hoisted up the pole. Flying the flag upside down is done to signal extreme danger, which Pfleger said is appropriate given the high levels of Chicago gun violence.

Watch:

Comments

[Ohio9]

This would be the same Michael Pfleger who called for the murder of gun shop owner during a protest outside his shop:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/274630/cardinal_francis_george_addresses_father.html

[STG 44]

St. Gabriel Possenti was a Catholic seminarian whose marksmanship and proficiency with handguns single-handedly saved the village of Isola, Italy from a band of 20 terrorists in 1860.

In 1860, a band of soldiers from the army of Garibaldi entered the mountain village of Isola, Italy. They began to burn and pillage the town, terrorizing its inhabitants.

Possenti, with his seminary rector's permission, walked into the center of town, unarmed, to face the terrorists. One of the soldiers was dragging off a young woman he intended to rape when he saw Possenti and made a snickering remark about such a young monk being all alone.

Possenti quickly grabbed the soldier's revolver from his belt and ordered the marauder to release the woman. The startled soldier complied, as Possenti grabbed the revolver of another soldier who came by.

At that moment a small lizard ran across the road between Possenti and the soldiers. When the lizard briefly paused, Possenti took careful aim and struck the lizard with one shot. Turning his two handguns on the approaching soldiers, Possenti commanded them to drop their weapons. Having seen his handiwork with a pistol, the soldiers complied. Possenti ordered them to put out the fires they had set, and upon finishing, marched the whole lot out of town, ordering them never to return. The grateful townspeople escorted Possenti in triumphant procession back to the seminary, thereafter referring to him as "the Savior of Isola".

[dems08]

you forgot to cite your quote:

By Joseph A. D'Agostino
Human Events Online
July 8, 2004

St. Gabriel Possenti Society, Inc.
Patron Saint of Handgunners

http://www.gunsaint.com/Articles/040708.asp

[Chi-townfool]

Gun control?!?!?! When the revolution starts where will you be? In your home with out a gun thats where!!!!

[DawnK]

Paranoid much? It's not 1776.

[Cahullin]

Whatever you can say or think about Father Pfleger, at least he's DOING something. That's a heck of a lot more than can be said for almost all politicians and, frankly, most of you out there reading this.

[djkrlsn]

What he is doing is calling for illogical, unreasonable and totally ineffective gun bans

[Cahullin]

So, then, the killing continues and more folks do nothing

[adamsmith3]

If someone really cares about a cause, they try to do things that change minds. This isn't helping his cause (which is a poorly-tho­ught-throu­gh cause anyway). Raising the American flag upside down will only win you friends from the fringe elements who probably already agree with you on gun control anyway. Either Pfleger doesn't really care about this cause and he is just an attention wh.ore, or he isn't very bright. I won't judge his motives, so I'll go with the latter.

[VOTER]

Flying the American Flag upside down isn't disrespectful but
signals DANGER. Father's decision to change the flag outside of his
neighborhood church is warranted.

As Father stated if the same number of murdered youngsters had
been killed by the H1N1 Flu, city, state and federal resources
would be available but because these children were killed by
gun violence, little is being done.
Imagine the MSM coverage if these deaths were due to the H1N1 flu.

Kudos to Father!

[djkrlsn]

With the gun bans in place in Chicago--it should be one of the safest cities in the country instead of one of the most violent. Common sense gun laws should be aimed squarely at the felons misusing guns instead of disarming their victims and shifting the balance of power to the criminals

[DawnK]

I agree with Father Pfleger on this one. I'm not someone on the fringe who is for gun control. Most people in this city are for gun control. His neighborhood is in extreme danger, oh and 6 year olds can't carry guns. So there goes the argument that if everyone had a gun...........
If everyone had a gun there would be more dead people.

[djkrlsn]

DC and Chicago style gun bans only serve to empower criminals and do nothing to keep people safer

[Avatar73]

Father Pfleger is a true man of GOD, not a phony, for all of those who say guns don't kill are crazy. The device was engendered to do one thing kill or harm no matter what the target, we are not killers and only a just nation will be left standing. If the rest of the Catholic priest can't stand with GOD then I guess we know where they stand.

[BushBites]

You're not helping, Father.

[VOTER]

Why do you think Father isn't helping?

Are you familiar with
Chicago?
St. Sabina's Parish?
The number of children killed by guns?

If so, then you should understand why Father has displayed
the DANGER Distress Signal.
He and his community are hoping and waiting for HELP!

[Lakeview Greg]

Father Michael can be over the top at times.
But this is not one of those times.

In the Headline, shouldn't it be Father and not Reverend?

[rwext]

Reverend is the correct prefix ....Father is the informal

[westreal]

That's not cool. If it was done for a good cause, maybe.

But guns aren't the problem. I believe they are going in the wrong direction with this. Instead of banning guns there should be a "permit to carry a gun" law. No one is going to want to risk shooting you if they are worried that people nearby are armed and will shoot back.

It's the reason why crooks don't carjack or rob cops who display their cop emblem on their personal cars. Because they don't want to risk getting shot at. Same philosophy. People are not going to rob or shoot you if they know it's legal for you to shoot back. We have too many laws that favor the crooks. Reverse that.

[Cogs]

He seems to stand alone on this issue. The Vatican needs to support his efforts with money and resources. The Holy See claims that every life is precious but ignores the injustice and brutality in our cities.

[VOTER]

"The Vatican needs to support his efforts with money and resources."

True but this will only happen when Hell Freezes Over.

[jayevans20]

I am not a catholic but I love this man. He has done nothing but try to help his community. I don't like the fact that "the Chruch" has control over him but he is a true definition of a Christian. Chicago crime rate is high and the police don't want to do any police work unless it involves give someone a ticket. I don't blame him and we should have stricter gun laws. I also would say that parents need to be more involved in their childrens lives.

[Ohio9]

Right, you do know that this man called for the murder of a gun shop owner, don't you? Is that your idea of reasonable restrictions?

[rwext]

More than 35 Chicago School kids murdered...... yet schools are closed , insane media hysteria over over a few cases of the flu.... Despicable

[stav506]

This should have been done long ago considering that number of Chicago school children that died from gun violence increased from last year before we even get out of February.