I see how people on another Catholic blog are wondering why Vox Nova is treating this murder as a “non-event”. I won’t address the implicit assumption that somehow Vox Nova is a giant “borg” collective, with a nefarious strategy designed to annoy and befuddle “true” pro-lifers everywhere! I won’t address the point that the extremist tactics undertaken by so many in the political pro-life movement — and lauded on the right-wing Catholic blogs – seem to be pleasing a smaller and angrier choir, aligning the movement ever more closer to a political philosophy that stands sharply against the core tenets of Catholic social teaching, and turning off the kinds of people we absolutely must persuade if anything is to be done on the abortion front. Others here have addressed that quite well.
No, I want to talk about something quite simple. Murder is murder. The murder of a human being is an affront to the Creator, a most evil and wicked act, that can never be justified, whether we are talking about an abortion doctor or an abortion protestor. But if we really want to stop the murders, to stop the crazy extremists on both sides resorting to murder, the answer is simple – we need forceful gun control. We need to take the weapons out of the hands of those people who would – whether with malice or in passion – use them to kill people they disagree with. I’ve blogged about this ad nauseam. I’ve talked about how the US homicide rate is far higher than comparator countries and how that can be traced to the widespread availability and ownership of guns, particularly handguns. So if we want to get serious, I urge all Catholics to push for rigorous gun control. Let us all support the USCCB on this matter, which has been making this argument since the 1970s, calling for an eventual ban on handguns. Let’s put aside the individualist ideology and constitution worship for a change, and help save lives. And stop dodging the real issue. Gun control now.
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