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WASHINGTON, D.C. — When Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, prayed for the dead on the first anniversary in early August of the mass shooting at a Walmart in his city, he made that solemn tribute in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, which has kept much of the U.S. public in social-distancing mode.
The level of gun violence, however, has not been reduced in the five months that Americans have sheltered in place and reduced public activity.
Those numbers have actually risen, according to statistics released by the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit research group that catalogs every incident of gun violence in the United States, with 56 mass shootings reported in May.
“We cannot simply accept it as the new normal,” Seitz told Catholic News Service.
Firearm deaths rose by 16 percent in April and 15 percent in May, compared to the same months in 2019, with urban areas — experiencing increased unemployment and the stress of spikes in COVID-19 cases and deaths — bearing the brunt of the violence, data from the Gun Violence Archive shows.
“For several decades, the bishops in the United States have been talking about gun violence and proposing different ways to encounter it, including reasonable measures of gun control to prevent guns from falling into the hands of folks who are going to do harm to others or to do harm to themselves,” said Michael B. O’Rouke, policy adviser for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Lobbying for reasonable gun laws on the state and federal level has continued among the U.S. bishops, who see this as a pro-life issue.
Continued below.
Rising gun violence amid pandemic points up bishops' call for commonsense gun laws
The level of gun violence, however, has not been reduced in the five months that Americans have sheltered in place and reduced public activity.
Those numbers have actually risen, according to statistics released by the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit research group that catalogs every incident of gun violence in the United States, with 56 mass shootings reported in May.
“We cannot simply accept it as the new normal,” Seitz told Catholic News Service.
Firearm deaths rose by 16 percent in April and 15 percent in May, compared to the same months in 2019, with urban areas — experiencing increased unemployment and the stress of spikes in COVID-19 cases and deaths — bearing the brunt of the violence, data from the Gun Violence Archive shows.
“For several decades, the bishops in the United States have been talking about gun violence and proposing different ways to encounter it, including reasonable measures of gun control to prevent guns from falling into the hands of folks who are going to do harm to others or to do harm to themselves,” said Michael B. O’Rouke, policy adviser for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Lobbying for reasonable gun laws on the state and federal level has continued among the U.S. bishops, who see this as a pro-life issue.
Continued below.
Rising gun violence amid pandemic points up bishops' call for commonsense gun laws