Pray for an end to all instances of violence

My dear sisters and brothers in Christ,

Today’s news is dominated by senseless mass shootings that take the lives of innocent people, often the most vulnerable and unprotected. Gun violence has become so prevalent that it risks becoming commonplace, and all of us are in danger of becoming indifferent to what is one of the most serious threats to our society (neighborhoods, local communities and our nation as a whole).

For many years now, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has called for action banning assault weapons. In the bishops’ 2020 statement, A Mercy and Peacebuilding Approach to Gun Violence” (see below), the bishops write, “We support measures that control the sale and use of firearms and make them safer (especially efforts that prevent their unsupervised use by children or anyone other than the owner), and we reiterate our call for sensible regulation of handguns.” I strongly agree with my brother bishops on the need to ban assault weapons and to control gun sales.

Legislation and regulations are absolutely necessary, but they are not sufficient. Like all life issues, when it comes to the prevention of gun violence, we cannot legislate morality. However, we can, and must, regulate our behavior in order to protect the vulnerable and ensure the common good. This is why reasonable licensing of all gun purchases, and strict limitations on access to weapons whose purpose is clearly of a military nature, are so important. It’s true that we have a second amendment right to bear arms, but rights always involve responsibilities—in this case, the responsibility to protect the innocent and to secure public safety and good order. The mass shootings we are witnessing almost weekly now are a grave threat to the lives and well-being of all people.

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