David Gunn Jr.
In the early days of April, a House Judiciary Committee called upon various witnesses in order to complete the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. The FACE Act would make using or threatening violence as well as stopping individuals from entering abortion clinics expressly illegal.
This House Committee called David Gunn Jr. to testify because of his personal insight on the matter. David Gunn Jr. began his Capitol Hill testimony by speaking to the ways in which the people that he calls “anti-choice” harassed his father David Gunn prior to Gunn’s death (Item 1).
During his testimony on Capitol Hill, David Gunn Jr. held up “The Abortion Buster’s Manual,” (Item 2) a manuscript published by anti-abortion advocates on ways to harass and scare abortion providers.
David Gunn Jr. testifying on Capitol Hill (April 1, 1993) to urge lawmakers to pass the FACE Act.
In the testimony, Gunn Jr. speaks to how his father began taking alternate routes to work due to anti-abortion individuals following him. Gunn Jr. emphasizes the fear that his father felt and even states that his father reported the harassment to the police yet no action was taken. After providing insight to David Gunn’s last days, Gunn Jr. goes on to liken the actions of anti-abortion groups with the actions of the KKK. David Gunn Jr. ultimately calls for change and for measures to be taken to ensure that events like his father’s murder would not happen again. However, anti-abortion violence has not stopped in America.
David Gunn Jr 1993
In a photograph taken by Barry Thumma on April 1, 2023, David Gunn Jr. (son of murdered David Gunn) testifies on Capitol Hill. Speaking on his past experience with anti-abortion abuse, Gunn Jr. holds up a copy of the Abortion Buster's Manual for the committee to see. This House Committee convened to determine the outcome of the FACE Act that would later help provide protection to abortion providers and receivers on their way inside an abortion clinic.
During his testimony on Capitol Hill, David Gunn Jr. held up “The Abortion Buster’s Manual."
The text contains 11 chapters, including a chapter that “shows [the reader] how to use the information [they] have on the abortionist to damage him.” The text was produced by Kevin Sherlock in 1985, less than a decade before David Gunn’s murder.
Gunn Jr. goes on to point out a flaw in the thought process behind these anti-choice groups. Operation Rescue's "Abortion Buster's Manual" includes ways to damage the abortionist; however Gunn Jr. states that while anti-abortion groups say they do not condone the murder of David Gunn, they believe that these violent actions were "morally justified" (Item 1).
Regarding a document such as "The Abortion Buster's Manual" that references God, David Gunn Jr.'s testimony raises theological questions on the nature of moral justification for the death of doctors that provide abortions.
1. “User Clip: David Gunn, Jr..” C, April 2, 1993. https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4494628%2Fuser-clip-david-gunn-jr.
2. Thumma, Barry. The Berkshire Eagle. Washington D.C.: AP Photos, April 1, 1993. https://www.berkshireeagle.com/david-gunn-jr-1993/image_53bca3ca-9252-11eb-bc23-1b073ea7c797.html (accessed March 29, 2023).