Pax Christi USA: Our country must prioritize children over guns

Source: paxchristiusa

The following statement is offered by the Pax Christi USA Gun Violence Prevention Working Group.

Our faith tells us that every life is sacred. But the lives of children seem particularly blessed given the incredible potential that resides in each beautiful soul. This is one of the many reasons why the indiscriminate and horrific shooting of the children and adults at the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis on August 27 is so devastating.

Our prayers are with the victims, their families, and the community of people who surround these families - including the family of the perpetrator. The unimaginable pain that accompanies the death and injury of those who were in the church praying when hundreds of rapid-fire bullets broke through the stained glass windows of their sanctuary is palpable and should move every heart to both prayer and action: action that leads to a decrease in the number of children who are killed each year by gun violence. In our country, these murders happen far too often.

As students return to school, we also recognize the string of swatting incidents last week where false reports of active shooters at more than 10 colleges and universities across the country terrorized campus communities. Even though these were revealed to be hoaxes, the threat and feelings of terror still cause harm and trauma for all involved.

This is what we know:

- The United States has more guns than people.

- An average of one gun death every 11 minutes occurs in this country, with the number of firearm deaths in recent years among the highest ever recorded in the US.

- The United States has a significantly higher gun death rate than most other high-income countries, placing it in the 93rd percentile for overall firearm deaths globally and even higher for child and adolescent firearm deaths.

- The number of school shootings in 2025 is at least 146.

Many of us on the outside of this tragedy ask: what can be done? Those who continue to work in gun violence prevention and de-escalation may ask: has our work made a difference? How can we address the significant increase of gun deaths in our country over the past several years? Is it the number of guns in our country that contribute to our record number of gun deaths each year?

Common sense gun laws are a place to start. What if we put this to the test to see if enforcing safe storage, red flag laws, background checks, and a ban on assault weapons would make a difference in the number of gun deaths in this country? In the face of these senseless shootings, can we not place the lives of our children above the money and power exerted by the gun lobby? We must decide as a country what our priorities will be. Indeed, it is these very decisions that will determine the formation of our country's soul.

LINK

Pax Christi USA Gun Violence Prevention Working Group: https://paxchristiusa.org/gun-violence-prevention/