Tragically, we live in a culture of violence and death. The recent mass shootings in New York and now Texas break our hearts, as both adults and children are murdered in the course of a normal day of grocery shopping or attending school by a troubled loner who has embraced some crazed ideological mix of racism, carnage, and/or revenge. The Gospel of Life challenges us to embrace our own human dignity, to build a culture in which every person is welcomed, nurtured, respected, and loved. The Church proclaims the right to life, not only for the unborn, but for every human being, created in the image and likeness of God.
Tag: gun control
Time to set aside politics and protect our children
They were looking for answers, not just platitudes, as a group of students and parents affected by school gun violence met with President Donald Trump on February 21.
Faced with the personal anguish wrought by the most recent school shooting in Parkland, Fla., that left 17 dead, President Trump pledged action, saying, “We don’t want others to go through the kind of pain you’ve been through.”
Breakdown of family, social media to blame
To the editor:
Again, in the wake of the terrible Florida school shooting, Mary Uhler talks about “common sense gun control.” I hear this phrase a lot, whether it’s TV, online, or print, but never hear any answers other than taking away Second Amendment rights.
Let’s take this a step further and start talking about controlling First Amendment rights; there is a lot of anger and hate on the Internet and social media these days, and our young people are exposed to it 24/7. How about the latest video games, that turn human lives into points for the participants?
A Lenten response to violence
It was interesting to see people with crosses on their foreheads in the crowds shown after the school shootings in Parkland, Fla.
Of course, the shootings occurred on Ash Wednesday, so some of the parents and other family members had gone to Mass during the day.
Is there a message for us? The more I thought about it, I think there is.
Gun proponents offer similar arguments as abortion lobby
To the editor:
I was proud of Mary Uhler’s stance that we should work for stronger gun control.
Last week’s Mailbag had two letters refuting gun control positions. I would guess that both men are strong in their faith and I would guess that neither supports abortion. But both letters troubled me in that they reminded me of the abortion lobby’s arguments.
Right to bear arms rooted in Constitution; abortion is not
To the editor:
Mary Uhler and Monica Simpson fail to understand that the cities today with the strictest gun control (Chicago and Washington, D.C.) have the highest rate of crime. Wyatt Earp displayed, in the city of Tombstone, Ariz., “No guns allowed within city limits”. He and his family reaped grave consequences for enforcing those restrictions.
The right to bear arms is rooted in the Constitution for a reason. We the people must be protected from government tyranny. Legal gun use has to be the peoples’ protection. Gun restriction laws are simply ignored by those who intend to break the law.
Taking away guns not way to solve problems
To the editor:
In the June 30 issue of the Herald, you argue that we should “Work for sensible gun control.” Ninety-three percent of guns used in crimes are obtained illegally, whereas less than one percent are from gun shows.
It is true that most U.S. suicides use guns, but America’s suicide rate is not unusually high — in other countries, they find a way. Our gun homicide rate is unusually high, but 63 percent of victims have a criminal history — most gun violence happens between criminals.
We need God back in our lives, not gun laws
To the editor:
It seems whenever there is a shooting, there is a clamor for more gun control, as in a recent editorial, “Work for sensible gun control.”
They say guns are killing people. I have yet seen or heard of a gun discharging itself into a person, much less loading itself. People kill people, and yes, some use guns. But guns get blamed and not the people using them. Why?
Don’t take guns away from law-abiding citizens
To the editor:
After reading Mary Uhler’s editorial in the June 30 issue of The Catholic Herald, I felt a need to respond. The term “common sense gun control” has been a familiar headline in the news lately, but when you read further (as in Mary Uhler’s editorial), it’s just another attack of the Second Amendment.
In one paragraph, Mary says, “I’m not calling for a ban on gun ownership,” while just one paragraph later the heading reads, “Do civilians really need assault weapons?” She goes on to quote a Dallas area bishop who calls for a ban on all semi-automatic rifles. Just think if this logic was used against the First Amendment — kind of scary, right?
Knife control vs. gun control legislation
To the editor:
As I watched the president wipe away a tear in announcing his new gun legislation, I wondered, “Is this the same man who proclaimed, ‘God bless Planned Parenthood’”?
Though President Obama’s compassion for the victims of Sandy Hook is commendable, what a tremendous disconnect to his callous support of an organization that kills, mutilates, and profits from the dirty business of abortion.