Life Issues: Violence Continuing our reflection during this Respect Life month, let us focus on yet another area that we often don’t readily associate with being a threat to life: violence. Violence to persons, whether it be from war or terrorism, gang or drug related violence, mass shootings in schools, workplaces or shopping venues, or domestic violence, threatens the gift of life. Often such violence begins with a lack of respect for one’s self on the part of the perpetrator. If I don’t value my own life, how can I value the lives of others? Having a healthy self-image and self-respect goes a long way in decreasing potential violence against another. Gun violence is particularly challenging. Just this week in the news, there have been numerous reports of gun-related violence: a postal worker shoots two fellow employees; a high-school student in Arlington TX targets four classmates with a gun he brought to school; a Minnesota bar shooting leaves one dead and 14 injured; a Georgia police officer is fatally shot while working his first department shift; two people are hospitalized after a shooting in Bloomfield; shooting in Hartford sends a teen to the hospital; drive-by shooting has West Haven neighborhood on edge. This is just in the past week, and only those shootings that actually made the news! A recent report on gun violence among youth in the United States shows that in 2019 there were 991 gun violence deaths among people age 17 or younger with that number increasing to 1375 in 2020. 2021 is on pace to be equally lethal to youth. As of this past Monday, shootings claimed 1179 young lives so far this year. Urban areas tend to have the highest incidences of gun homicides. New Haven, for example reports a sharp uptick in gun violence in the city, with 83 shootings and 22 homicides so far this year. Hartford has seen similar rise in shootings in the city. A particularly heartbreaking gun death earlier this year claimed the life of 3-year-old Randell Jones who was in the same vehicle as an adult who was the intended target. Gun violence is so prevalent in our nation and in our news, that we hardly pay attention to it until some particularly devastating death or deaths like this occur. Then there are those deaths that occur each year by accidental shootings or gun-related suicide. How can we respond to these violent attacks on life? One area that shows promise is to reduce the number of firearms that are accessible. Often guns used in violent crimes and homicides are stolen from those who legally purchase and own them. Many communities and local law enforcement departments have periodic gun buy-back programs to reduce the number of unwanted firearms. If we have an unused gun in the house we might consider turning it in to one of these programs. If we ourselves own firearms, let’s be sure to keep them unloaded and properly stored in locked safes, or use individual gun locks on them. Store ammunition separately. A fatal shooting is more likely to occur when firearms are easily accessible and/or loaded, whether in a moment of heated anger or passion, or accidentally. Not long ago, in my former parish in Guilford, two young teens were playing with a parent’s firearm that was not properly stowed and resulted in one of them tragically being killed when the gun discharged. Also, learning and teaching de-escalation techniques and mediation helps reduce tension in times of severe disagreements. Finally, making it more difficult for those who should not have access to firearms is key. Common-sense gun restrictions do greatly reduce gun violence as has been proven in other nations around the world. And it can be done without compromising constitutional access to firearms for those who choose to own weapons for recreational and law-abiding purposes. Let’s pray about this and consider how we might be able to participate in protecting the precious gift of life from all forms of violence.