About 30 members and friends of Mount Vernon Unitarian Church lobbied state representatives in Richmond for stronger state gun laws on Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday on Jan. 18. The church advocates for measures that prevent the indiscriminate purchase of firearms for the use of violence against people who live in the United States; provide safe havens for people to report threatening behavior; provide federal funding to study the causes of gun violence; and support universal background checks for purchase of firearms.