Gun Control - A Life Issue

This is a copy of my "Justice Perspective" article that appeared in the April issue of the Western New York Catholic, the newspaper for the Diocese of Buffalo.

Gun Control: A Life Issue

            In a recent entry to his blog, “The Gospel in the Digital Age”, Cardinal Timothy Dolan came out strongly in favor of gun control, both on the national level and on the State level as well. The Cardinal recounted that while he was watching President Obama’s State of the Union address, during which the President called for “common sense” reform of gun regulations, he found himself “nodding in agreement”. The Cardinal also mentioned his support for the recently-enacted gun control law in New York State.

            Cardinal Dolan rightly mentioned that supporting gun control is nothing new for the Church – the Church has long been supportive of limiting international arms trading, reducing the number of handguns on the streets and banning assault weapons.

            In 1975, the Bishops issued Handgun Violence: A Threat to Life which stressed that “the cost of this [handgun] violence in terms of human life and suffering is enormous” and proposed legislation to control handguns, hopefully leading to their eventual elimination (with exceptions, of course, for law enforcement). At the time that they wrote, there were approximately 40 million handguns in our country – there are now over 105 million.

            The Bishops made similar calls for regulation and control of all firearms in Confronting A Culture Of Violence: A Catholic Framework for Action (1995), Community and Crime (1978), and Responsibility, Rehabilitation, and Restoration (2000). Clearly, the Bishops have had a long history of taking a stand in an effort to reduce the availability of weapons in order to reduce the violence that stems from that availability.

            And their calls for regulation are not only pastorally imperative, but common sense: a recent study by the Center for Disease Control found a direct correlation between tighter gun control laws and a reduction in gun-related deaths. There was no other factor that had such a direct correlation – not population density, stress, nor mental illness.

            It is puzzling to see so many Catholics who allow their thinking on this issue to be more influenced by their political leanings than Gospel values and Catholic Social Teaching. The Bishops repeatedly remind us of the proper perspective, as they did in Handgun Violence: “We affirm the traditional principle that individual rights to private property are limited by the universal demands of social order and human safety as well as the common good.”

            While some may argue about the Constitutional right of owning a firearm, we need to constantly assert that while the Constitution is excellent law, it is not divine law – it is not revelation. As difficult as it may be sometimes, we are called to align our politics according to our faith, not the other way around.

            Most compelling, perhaps, in Cardinal Dolan’s observations is his correlation between gun control and other life issues. “For me, regulating and controlling guns is part of building a Culture of Life, of doing what we can to protect and defend human life. The easy access to guns, including assault weapons, that exists in our nation has contributed towards a Culture of Death, where human life and dignity are cheapened by the threat of violence.”

            The association of gun control and a “Culture of Life” moves us closer to reminding ourselves of the need to have a consistent ethic of life – opposing everything that detracts from human life and dignity. We must be consistent in our opposition to abortion, the prevalence of firearms, the use of violence to solve problems, the death penalty – everything that diminishes the value of life and human dignity. It is, simply, a requirement of our faith.