DAVID ADAMS reports…
Church leaders have expressed their shock and grief over the latest gun massacre in the US amid renewed calls for greater gun control.
Twenty children and six adults died at the hands of a gunman who opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut (about 95 kilometres north-west of New York City) on Friday. The suspected gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, is also believed to have killed his mother prior to the school attack, and, later killed himself.
“As a parent, I cannot comprehend the grief other mothers and fathers are feeling tonight. I share President Obama’s instincts to hug my own child especially close tonight. And my heart breaks to know so many parents in Connecticut are no longer able to do that.”– Kathryn Lohre, president of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA |
Kathryn Lohre, president of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA – which represents some 40 million Christians, expressed her “shock and profoundest grief” over the killings.
“As a parent, I cannot comprehend the grief other mothers and fathers are feeling tonight,” said Ms Lohre. “I share President Obama’s instincts to hug my own child especially close tonight. And my heart breaks to know so many parents in Connecticut are no longer able to do that.”
The council has previously published a resolution calling upon “our local, state, and federal legislators to enact reforms that limit access to assault weapons and handguns, including closing the so-called federal ‘gun show loophole,’ which allows for the purchase of firearms from private sellers without submitting to a background check, or providing documentation of the purchase.”
The resolution, which was adopted in May 2010, says that in an average year, 100,000 Americans are shot or killed with a gun with 300 Americans victims of gun violence – including 85 lives taken – daily.
“The United States is rapidly moving from a land of hospitality and freedom to a land of the fearful and the besieged, with gun violence being the driving force behind this change,” it said. “We have become a nation at war with ourselves and numbed to the sacredness of human life.”
Franklin Graham, son of renowned evangelist Billy Graham and president of Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan’s Purse, said in a statement that the “senseless killings…leave us stunned and looking for answers”.
“The Bible tells us the human heart is ‘wicked’ and ‘who can know it?’ My heart aches for the victims, their families and the entire community,” he said. “One thing we can be absolutely sure of is that God loves each one of the victims and all those who are suffering right now as a result of this vicious act.”
“My hope and prayer is that our entire nation will embrace the community of Newtown with our love and cover them with our prayers, asking for God’s perfect comfort and peace in the midst of this dark hour.”
Cardinal Timothy M Dolan, Archbishop of New York and president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, was reported as saying that the shooting “wrenches the hearts of all people” and the “tragedy of innocent people dying through violence shatters the peace of all.”
He prayed “that the peace that passes understanding be with them as they deal with the injuries they have sustained and with the deaths of their beautiful children.”
Speaking in the wake of the killings, an emotional US President Barack Obama said “Our hearts are broken today”. He added that the country would have to take “meaningful action” in the wake of the events.
And in Australia, Prime Minister Julia Gillard said “Australia grieves with America”. “Our heartfelt sympathies go to those families who have lost a child, to those families who have lost a loved one, to those families who are now trying to counsel their young child who has been witness to such shocking scenes and will be so distressed as a result,” she said. “Alongside the loss of children, we’ve seen the loss of some very brave teachers.”
