Scottish Catholic Observer

The head of an organisation representing Jesuit middle and high schools in the U.S. and Canada is calling for stricter gun legislation, following the Valentine’s Day mass shooting at a Florida high school that left 17 dead and many injured.

Yesterday, February 21 in a letter addressed to U.S. President Donald Trump and to high-ranking members of Congress, Jesuit Father William Muller, executive director of Jesuit Schools Network of North America, said that those who survived the shooting in Florida are “now burdened with the loss of classmates and peers senselessly murdered,” and said the Jesuit network stands “with so many voices against the proliferation of guns in our country.”

Police in the US have arrested Nikolas Cruz, a former student at the Florida high school, who stands accused of gunning down classmates and school officials.

Father Muller, said: “The deaths of innocent children and their teachers are the hardest to bear in this terrible trend of violence.”

He pointed to a 2016 statement from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops that calls on Congress to “require universal background checks for all gun purchases, limit civilian access to high-capacity weapons and ammunition magazines, make gun trafficking a federal crime and improve access to mental health care for those who may be prone to violence.”

National Shame

Father Muller added: “The Jesuit network, along with the Catholic bishops and with the community of the Marjory Stoneham Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where the latest school shooting took place, declares support for laws to ban sales of assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition and for background checks on gun sales.

“Columbine, Virginia Tech, Newton, Parkland — and others. They are the names of our shame as a nation,” he said. “We cannot risk another young life because of our inaction.”

Earlier today US President Trump endorsed arming teachers with gun in order to prevent school shootings like that which left 17 people dead last week in Florida.

The President held a listening session at the White House with survivors of last week’s Florida school shooting and others affected by gun violence, telling them “teachers and coaches” who were “very adept at using firearms” could be armed.

“If you had a teacher who was adept at firearms, they could very well end the attack very quickly,” he said.