EDITORIAL

Restore peace by controlling guns

Posted

In light of the horrific attack at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 4, 2012, many have called for an examination of school safety, mental health policies and gun control.

The renewed effort for stricter gun control - especially for assault weapons - is being led by the Obama administration. Such assault weapons were banned during the Clinton administration, but the ban was later repealed during the Bush administration. An assault weapon was used by the killings at Newtown, Conn., last month.

While gun ownership is constitutionally guaranteed in the United States, guns - even assault weapons - are too easily accessible in our nation. In their November 2000 statement entitled “Responsibility, Rehabilitation and Restoration: A Catholic Perspective on Crime and Criminal Justice,” the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops stated that only police authorities and military services should possess guns and that “handguns should be eliminated from our society.” The Catechism of the Catholic Church also teaches that guns are legitimate in order to “repel aggressors” if used by “those who legitimately hold authority.”

The battle over strict gun control has been waged for decades in our nation and heightened in recent weeks since the evil in Newtown. The president of the National Rifle Association, the powerful special interest lobby, recently suggested that the solution is found in placing armed guards in all schools rather than in limiting access to assault weapons by civilians. This cannot be the answer to solving the societal problem of gun violence and murderous attacks by gunmen. The answer can only be found in controlling the sale and use of firearms, making guns safer, limiting access to assault weapons, and moving from a culture that glorifies violence and death to a culture that upholds the sanctity of all human life.

The peace of Newtown was shattered only a month ago by a horrific evil that took the lives of innocent children and adults. If that peace is to be restored, it must begin with a renewed effort to eliminate violence and guns from our culture. In this year’s Annual Message on the World Day of Peace, Pope Benedict highlights the need for such a peace. He states: “For this very reason the church is convinced of the urgency of a new proclamation of Jesus Christ, the first and fundamental factor of the integral development of peoples and also of peace. The peacemaker is the one who seeks the good of the other, the fullness of good in body and soul, today and tomorrow.”

As we continue to mourn the tragedy of Newtown, let us take up the call to become peacemakers for today and tomorrow.