Commentary by Fr. Gerald Coleman, adjunct professor in the Graduate School of Pastoral Ministries at Santa Clara University.
On Ash Wednesday of this year, a horrible tragedy occurred at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Seventeen people were killed. On the following day, an 11-year-old girl was arrested for writing a threatening and vulgar letter saying she was going to “shoot up” her Florida Middle School.
It is time to stop dancing around the issue of gun violence by misrepresenting what the real problem is. Now is the appointed time for Congress to pass stringent laws regarding the very possession of guns.
Mental health is not what makes America uniquely vulnerable to gun violence. Research has demonstrated that people with mental illnesses are more likely to be victims, not perpetrators, of gun violence. The mentally ill should not bear the burden of being regarded as the chief perpetrators of mass murder.
The real problem is guns, specifically America’s extraordinary stockpile of firearms. The U.S. has the highest number of guns in the world. This is the core problem, pure and simple.
Research compiled by the Harvard School of Public Health’s Injury Control Research Center has found that after controlling for variables such as socioeconomic factors and other crimes, places with more guns have more gun deaths. More guns in a community lead to more homicides, suicides, domestic violence, and violence against police (in the past 10 years, more than 90% of police deaths resulted from assaults involving firearms). America has more lethal violence than other developed countries, and this fact is driven in large part by the prevalence of guns.
Guns are not the only contributor to violence (other factors include poverty, urbanization, alcohol consumption), but over and over again researchers have found that America’s high levels of gun ownership is a major reason why there is such a high level of violence in the U.S.
We must demand universal background checks for those wanting to purchase guns, make licensing requirements more stringent, place outright bans on certain types of firearms such as automatic and semi-automatic rifles, shotguns and other types of assault weapons, establish a registry for all guns owned in the country, require a permit for all firearm purchases, curtail gun trafficking, and wage campaigns against all film producers who glorify violent action and the dehumanization of persons.
America has become resistant to doing anything about this issue because some feel “powerful” by owning a gun, and the decades-long public campaign by the National Rifle Association to convince the U.S. public and politicians that bearing arms and having more guns actually make people safer. This assertion is contrary to everything research demonstrates.
Our country has become mired in a culture of violence as a way of solving problems nationally and internationally. Parading U.S. weaponry on the streets of the nation’s capital only exasperates this culture.
A Douglas High School student tweeted the day after the Florida massacre, “Do something instead of sending prayers. Prayers won’t fix this. But gun control will prevent it from happening again.”
We must not let seventeen deaths be in vain. We must work and pray for sensible and fruitful discussion that leads to gun reform.
Full story at cacatholic.com.
Classrooms need to have a bullet-proof screen that kids can get behind. Doors to classrooms should not have glass windows. Schools should have metal detectors. No glass doors or windows on the first floor unless they are bulletproof glass.
School safety needs to be a top priority.
Anon , think about what you wrote. All of your suggestions accept the fact that we should live in fear, that we should expect people to come to schools and start shooting. That is unacceptable!! Our goal should be a country in which there are no school shootings, ever. Our goal should be a nation where only highly competent reasoning people should be able to buy a gun. Our goal should be a nation where our leaders don’t want teachers to carry guns to school. Think of the change in the relationship between student and teacher that creates. The answer needs to be a country where gun owners don’t go to schools to shoot other kids. Schools have windows in the doors, btw, to ensure there is no harassment or child molestation going on…
That he is a priest does not give his personal opinion more validity than anyone else’s.
He is ignorant about guns and violence. He refers to research several times only generically. Contrary to his assertions:
1.Bearing arms is a natural, God-given right recognized by the Constitution’s 2nd Amendment
2.The problem is not guns; the problem is evil/sin
3.Automatic weapons are already banned; shotguns are not assault weapons
4.Responsible gun owners don’t think guns make them “powerful”
5.Having guns DOES make people safer. Good guys with guns stop evil guys with guns
He is a moral theologian, yet “evil” and “sin” are not mentioned in his column. Hmm…. Kamala Harris could have penned the column.
Good points!
1) a – God Given? Really? Where does anything say that? In the Catechism? The Gospels? b – Supreme Court has said that 2nd does not protect asssault weapons like the AR15.
2) Guns sometimes kill accidentally. Is that evil/sin? Mentally ill kill using guns. Is that sin?
3) AR15 is not a shotgun. It is an assault rifle designed specifically for military use not hunting or self defense.
4) Agreed
5) Show ANY evidence that that is true. There was a good guy with a gun in Parkland. He hid.
1. The natural right to self defense includes owning weapons needed for defense
2. Guns don’t kill accidentally because they don’t discharge themselves
3. Fr. Coleman calls for shotguns to be banned; read the article. An AR15 is not an assault rifle. It is a semiautomatic rifle
4. You got 1/5 right, but that’s a lousy percentage
5. You want evidence? Here you go:
https://crimeresearch.org/2016/09/uber-driver-in-chicago-stops-mass-public-shooting/
A gun is a lot more likely to get you into trouble than to get you out of it.
I own three guns and haven’t had any trouble. I also carry concealed. Even at Mass.
A gun can save a woman from being raped.
Liberals and the intellectually defective always blame the inanimate object instead of a person. I can fully load any of my weapons, leave them on a table for 1000 years, and they will not endanger anyone.
More people are killed in America by automobiles…..BAN THEM!
Thinking is hard, which is why most people don’t bother.
Father is misinformed and his priorities are misdirected. FBI statistics show that hand guns are used 13 times more often than rifles in homicides. Automobiles are 4 time more responsible for fatalities than firearms. I moved to a conceal carry state and violent crimes per capita are lower in every category than California or any other state with tough gun laws. Guns are not the problem. Society (that is not raised in good Catholic principles) is the problem. And if father believes as Douglas High School student tweeted “Prayers won’t fix this” once again is grossly misinforms. There is a spiritual solution to every problem.
Yeah, like I’m gonna pay any attention to what a guy with his legs crossed like that, sitting on a loveseat like that, in a room decorated like that, with his hand stroking a pooch like that has to say about guns. Has he ever fired a gun or handled a gun in his life? Based on what he wrote and the picture, I think the mere sight of a real gun within ten feet of him would make him queasy.
Annon, let me see if I understand you correctly. No one should listen to a Priest who sits on a couch, crosses his legs for comfort, or pets his or his hosts’ dog and lives in a well decorated living room/den. Is that what you mean?
He’s wrong, period. The basic design of a gun or guns that these mass shooters use during these incidents have not changed in 50 years. What has changed are people, especially those who stand in front of a pulpit. Yet another in the religious life who goes with the current trend. No one is taking away from these horrific events. Cars kill more people than guns. How about this Father, Abortion Mills kill more citizens than guns.50 plus years ago, the sense of urgency about abortion was as important but not anymore, there’s the problem, it’s people.
Correct.
Thank You Father.
Car deaths are accidents. Few people die by an intentional car crashes.
There is no moral equivalence between death by car accident and a death by gunfire.
Abortion kills a lot more people than guns, but the people killed by guns are just as important as the unborn.
Human life is sacred. We are supposed to be willing to give our lives so that others can live.
Father Coleman is right about this issue. The second amendment may support the right to bear arms but it must be considered in the context in which it was written. Where is the line drawn for gun ownership? Can one own a machine gun? A mortar? A tank? Also, the research is clear: households in which there is a gun are much less safe. Consider the real facts (not alt facts!) instead of uninformed opinions.
Then consider ” Thou shall NOT KILL”. Oh thats right, Abortion is called choice.
Does this priest not know that in many high schools in America leading up to the 1960s students would bring rifles and shotguns to school and store them in their lockers or on gun racks in their trucks? Students would go hunting before and after school in rural areas. Schools had shooting clubs and some had firing ranges on school grounds. There were no incidents of mass shootings under such permissive circumstances. Guns were not and are not the problem. The society has changed to become less virtuous. Don’t blame guns. Don’t blame laws, unless you blame the laws that make schools gun-free zones, which makes them inviting targets for maniacs.
Yeah, my Dad did that. With a .22 bolt action, not a AR-15 or AK-47.
Father is a little confused in what he says. There is something new (fifty years) going on in the United States. Hollywood, video games all glorify gun killings. We’ve cheapened life with abortion. destroyed the family with no fault divorce. No right or wrong. It’s how you feel. Perhaps Father should think a little bit more about the subject.
Fr. John Higgins, I agree. When I grew up in the 1940’s through 1950’s, abortion was illegal and guns were all over the place because most American men had to sign up for the draft, learned how to use one and kept one at home. I and many other girls were taking archery, with real arrows, in high school right here in California and most other states. None of us were shooting at our fellow classmates. Many more children are killed every day by abortion than they are at schools. Until that changes, nothing will change.
Every time politicians start talking about more gun control huge number of guns are sold. Maybe society should take away social media from teens, too much destroying of image leading to suicide. How about alcohol? I’m bet many more teens die from drunk driving than school shootings. Why aren’t gangs being hounded in inner cities. Why are millions of teens on psych drugs? Society is not well. No Jesus, no Peace. Know Jesus, know peace.
Everytime there is a mass shooting there is a massive increase in the number of guns sold. Violence begets violence.
How many times did the police go to the guy’s house? How many times did the FBI do the same? Who could have prevented this?
Sorry, Fr. Coleman. You drove St Patrick’s Seminary into the ground as rector years ago through the practice of your version of morality. That version is still rotten to the core, as your willingness to serve as a lackey for the corrupt leadership of the Democratic Party shows. Maybe you’d feel more at home in China, the society that one of your colleagues has identified as the paradigm of Catholic Social Teachings…
John Higgins hits the nail on the head, There is no respect for Life. It is disposable. What is the difference between a doctor/nurse performing abortions and a person using a gun to kill people. The person using the gun gets press coverage. Those of us condemning abortion get none. And what is worse, our government pays for the abortions not only in the U.S. but throughout the world.
In The Catholic Voice on November 7, 2016, Fr. Gerald Coleman artfully defended how Catholics (who presumably include him) can and should vote for pro-abort Democrats (who presumably include Hillary Clinton who supports late-term abortion) despite the fact that the Catholic Church regards abortion as an “intrinsic evil” — i.e., an evil so egregious, it is non-negotiable. Coleman writes: “A Catholic voter should not use a candidate’s opposition to an intrinsic evil to justify indifference to other important moral issues the candidate holds involving human life and dignity, e.g., environmental degradation, unjust discrimination . . . .”
In other words, we are told that “unjust discrimination” — whatever that means — is way more important…
A Jesuit. From Santa Clara.
Enough said.
He’s a Sulpician.
Thanks. I see now he’s the one formerly at the helm of St. Patrick’s Seminary. (SCU seems a good fit for him.)
Some of the comments above call for more guns on campus, bullet proof shield students can hide behind, etc. The suggestions answer the wrong question. There should be NO school shootings anywhere any time, ever. Start from that point and most arguments lead to one conclusion. I think most people don’t believe that guns kill people, but that people kill people. If true, the argument leads to one conclusion. Limit who can own a gun. The majority of people in the US support that notion. Other countries find it effective to license people who own guns. They can buy guns for hunting and sport only after obtaining a license which involves extensive background checks and doctor certification. It works and can work here if only we ask…
Maybe someone can explain to him that Chicago has perhaps the strictest gunlaws in our nation, but the most murders! Or that Communist nations like red China, North Korea, and Cuba, and socialist Russia have strict gun laws to maintain government and party supremacy over their citizens; however, just last week an Islamic terrorist mowed down 5 Russian Orthodox worshipers after their services. Guns don’t kill people, evil people do outside of self defense.
One person kills 17 or 59 people with 1 gun. They are very dangerous personal possessions and there is little progress in keeping them out of the hands of people who kill others.
Morality IS a problem but the people who do these things know it is wrong.
Chicago does not have the strictest gun laws in the country. California does. There are no strict gun laws in the USA.
Criminals WILL get their hands on one anyway. These mass shootings are often the first serious crime committed by these people. They are not criminals.
Gun control isn’t the answer as evil people would not volunteer to turn theirs in, even during a government confiscation, only naive law-abiding citizens would do so. The heart of the problem in our growing secular society is teaching Catholic laws, morals, values, and the faith. All of the modernist Christian denominations have failed in this respect, including this priest’s.
Self defense is a fundamental human right. It is unjust to deprive people of the means of self defense.
How many of the gun control crowd are in favor of Nuke control for North Korea and Iran?
All of them.
Oh really, Obama allowed North Korea and Iran to Nuke up and now someone else has to clean up the mess.
Yes, Father, treat the symptom, not the disease. You don’t want to solve the problem, you want an issue to rally around. As the Church has failed it’s children by teaching them a touchy-feely faith by non-believing Priests, as its Priests get politically involved in social issues instead of being concerned about souls, as the Church turns its back on God and worships the celebrity Priest, Father Popular, , God will have a judgment.
Gun control is nothing but a political issue to rally around. It is a political tool, nothing else. Did even one person bring up bomb control when McVeigh blew up the Murrah Building. Why not? Pressure cooker bombs used at a Boston footrace… Remember all those protests agains pressure cookers? Yeah,…
No, it’s a political tool. In a sick society, take away the guns and they will use a different weapon. Is it really that hard to figure out? “Well, knives can’t kill a lot of people like guns.” Tell that to the 35 people murdered at one time by knives in China. Fools keep treating the symptom without ever considering curing the cause.
Agree, radicals muslims used box cutters that started the procees and ended up killing over 3000 Americans.
Why don’t you suggest banning alcohol, while you’re at it, Father? How many unnecessary and tragic deaths and suffering can be blamed on alcohol? Much more than on guns.
You are probably too young to remember, but we did that.
Beware the Commucrats and their controlled and loyal mainstream press and very wealthy rich billionaires (like Soros ) and politicians like the Obamas and Clintons are behind this and the “Godless, Man-honoring” New World Order. Its all about taking away our rights to protecting ourselves not only from life-threatening criminal conduct, but also government intervention and contrl of our lives by elites who think they know best and want to control the rest of us. Rest assured if the elites get power, the Nazi-like genocidal and crippled people purge will begin.
It would be very difficult to ban all possible murder weapons. It would be much more difficult to prepare food if all knives are banned. It would be very difficult to harvest lumber if axes and saws were banned. How about walking everywhere you go? Cars can be used as murder weapons too. So can electricity. Well, if we go back to the stone age we can uses rocks and clubs to kill each other in tribal wars. Oops, we forgot to ban those too. Don’t forget about banning fire. Let’s just all die for lack of tools since many of the tools that we need to survive can be used as murder weapons. Perhaps it would be easier on everyone if someone got around to banning murder. Surely, if murder was banned then no one would commit murder!
I am not a priest or scholar but Father should prove his theories about guns