GUN VIOLENCE
From the Desk of Fr Ron—1/24/2023
The writer, activist and playwright George Bernard Shaw once quipped that the longer he lived the more convinced he was that other planets use this one as a lunatic asylum. And after a week of more mass shootings, we can understand his point.
This week in California we have had back to back shootings in Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay killing 18 people. The news anchors reported that there have already been more mass shootings than there have been days in the new year!
The rest of the world looks on the United States as if it has collectively lost its mind. A major study in 2015 by Adam Lankford of the University of Alabama found that the only correlation between a country’s rates of mass shootings is its rate of gun ownership. The United States has about 4.4 of the world’s population yet has 42 percent of guns in the world!
We know what needs to be done yet we seem paralyzed. This is a collective, social problem. Our cultural tendency of all viewpoints tries to reduce this to an individual problem. We either blame mental health, or lack of police, or merely lack of enforced restrictions.  But we do not have a mental health problem greater than other countries. Our crime rates are not much different than other countries. We don’t have more evil people than other places.
What we do have is more guns than other nations and they are used more often to commit crimes. Along with that we have an attitude that believes we have a God-given right to possess a gun. The gun has become an object of worship and a symbol of our desire to control the world with violence. This is why we tolerate mass shootings. We are told its OK because this is the price for our “freedom.” But that is immoral. What about our freedom and that of our children not to be killed by a gun!
The rest of the world has the opposite attitude toward gun ownership. You have to demonstrate the need for a gun. Then there are background checks that can take months before you are even given a license to buy a gun. Background checks happen before you can take possession of a firearm.
We can end this cycle of violence. We are tired of politicians’ thoughts and prayers. We need to stand up to gun lobbies and arms manufacturers. We need sensible and enforceable laws.

• Background checks before the purchase of guns
• Outlaw assault weapons for personal use
• Ban guns that carry more than five shells.
• Limit the sale of bullets to fifteen except at gun clubs.
• Outlaw handguns except at gun clubs
• End all open-carry laws
• Ban the advertising of gun sales.
• Make gun licenses renewable every five years.

We can end the madness and the violence if we choose.