Catholic teaching pairs gun rights with gun responsibilities to respect common good, Michigan Catholic Conference has said
BERKELEY — In 2023, 46,728 Americans lost their lives to gun violence.
In the latest data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control, 58% of all gun-related deaths were suicides, 38% were murders, and the remaining 3% were a combination of law-enforcement incidents, accidental shootings, or undetermined circumstances.
The Small Arms Survey, an independent research project located at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland, gathers statistics on firearms ownership around the world. It estimates that the United States has 1,073,743 registered firearms and 392,273,257 unregistered firearms amidst a civilian population of 393,347,000, aggregating to 120 guns per 100 people in the U.S.
Incidents of mass shooting events, including locally at Oxford High School in November 2021 and Michigan State University in February 2023, prompted the Michigan Legislature to pass a series of gun safety regulations amidst a national debate on the rights and responsibilities of gun ownership.
The Michigan Catholic Conference, the public policy arm of the Catholic Church in the state, supported a series of bills that passed in the spring of 2024, which expanded background checks on all firearms sales in Michigan, required the implementation of safe storage of firearms so they would not be accessible by minors, and the establishment of Extreme Risk Protections Orders, “a red flag law,” which would allow for the temporary confiscation of firearms from individuals deemed by a judge to pose a threat to themselves or others.
The Michigan Catholic Conference publicly supported these measures in Michigan's state House and Senate committees as “steps on a journey toward a culture that values life, recognizes and includes the isolated among us, and seeks to bring safety to our communities.”
“We need to begin taking policy actions, as a society, in a coherent, holistic manner to embrace and foster a culture of life,” Paul Stankewitz, policy advocate for the Michigan Catholic Conference, told the committees and was further quoted in a 2023 issue of FOCUS, the MCC’s official publication.
The FOCUS issue outlined the Catholic Church’s position on gun control and gun ownership, highlighting men and women in the Church advocating for responsible policies and practices regarding firearms in the wake of mass shootings in the area and the more numerous instances of gun violence that shake communities to their core.
“While there are many factors that influence gun violence, gun regulation is still part of the conversation,” the FOCUS publication said. “Acknowledging that gun policies alone will not solve every problem, this edition of FOCUS will examine gun safety policies and why they are part of the Catholic response to gun violence.”
The Michigan Catholic Conference said responsible gun ownership includes discerning what reasonable measures can be taken to ensure people and communities can remain safe and the rights and liberties of citizens are protected.
When most debates about firearms spiral into entrenched thinking, leaving no room for discussion or compromise, the MCC called on the faithful to have thoughtful, rational discussions on the prevalence and access to firearms.
“Catholics do not have to settle into an 'either or' mindset,” the conference stated. “Rather, the faithful can and should embrace a 'both and' approach. With gun violence, it is not different."
The prevalence of more firearms in the United States than citizens has led to occasions where people find themselves in possession of firearms that they do not want to possess, but furthermore, do not know how to dispose of properly.
Those unfamiliar with firearms or inexperienced with guns may feel uncomfortable if, whether through the death of a family member or a discovery in the home, they find a gun that they are unsure how to store safely.
In instances such as those, gun buyback programs, such as one St. Charles Lwanga Parish in Detroit has done, are a tangible way to get unwanted firearms off the street.
“It relieves an innocent person from being in a situation of violence,” Fr. Theodore Parker told FOCUS. “Gun buybacks take excess guns out of circulation and prevent them from falling into the wrong hands.”
Across town and in the wider Christian community, the Rev. Chris Yaw of St. David’s Episcopal Church has begun Disarmory Ministries, a gun buyback program that not only exchanges unwanted guns for gift cards, but also disassembles the firearm on site.
Starting this weekend, Friday, May 2, the Rev. Yaw and his Disarmory Ministry team will be operating out of the parking lot at 2312 Greenfield Road in Berkley from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., accepting unwanted, unloaded firearms from people.
“We’re doing this because there are an inordinate number of unwanted firearms in our communities, and there are very few resources and options for people to take firearms that they want destroyed,” the Rev. Yaw told Detroit Catholic. “Most people in the United States are not firearm owners, and with the proliferation of firearms in this country, inevitably, they come into the possession of people who not only don’t want them, but they don’t want them in circulation.”
The Rev. Yaw has been leading St. David’s Episcopal Church in holding gun buybacks since 2022, disposing of more than 650 firearms.
However, after a 2023 New York Times story reported that 68 guns collected from a gun buyback program in Flint were sent to a Missouri-based business called Gunbusters, where the company only removed the piece of the weapon stamped with the serial number and sold the rest of the firearm as a nearly complete gun kit, the Rev. Yaw revamped the gun buyback program as Disarmory Ministries, which will disassemble the guns on site.
“Our ultimate goal is to change America’s disposal habits,” the Rev. Yaw said. “We have dumpsters that you put used clothes in, we have recyclables that we put in a bin, but when we have a gun, we don't know what to do with it. It’s far easier to get a gun than to get rid of a gun, and that is what we’re here to help people do with this proliferation of firearms. There is no conversation around where these guns go, so this is an answer, and an option for people.”
Those seeking to dispose of unwanted firearms are encouraged to visit disrmory.org to book a time in advance to avoid a rush of people at the parking lot, but walk-ins are still welcome.
Disarmory will also be giving away free gun locks and gun safes upon request, and guns given for destruction are exchanged for gift cards to Kroger and Meijer.
“What we heard most from our donors (has been instances such as) an older woman who said her husband died and she found a pistol loaded underneath the mattress that they had been sleeping on for 40 years, and she hasn’t been able to sleep since,” the Rev. Yaw said. “There are people who are really worried about having firearms in their house because their grandkids are moving in, or they have a brother who just got out of prison and can’t be in a home with guns. So we offer an option for those who want to dispose of their weapons."
The Catholic Church’s teachings on gun ownership and the bishops’ support for legislation that calls for background checks, safe storage, and mechanisms for temporary confiscation of firearms from potentially dangerous individuals do not equate to the Church disapproving of the private civilian ownership of firearms.
Rather, it stresses that each and every right comes with responsibilities to be good stewards of an orderly society.
“In a 2022 letter to Congress, the U.S. bishops called for addressing violence through ‘dialogue followed by concrete action to bring about a broader social renewal that addresses all aspects of the crisis,’” the Michigan Catholic Conference said in the FOCUS publication. “They listed ‘mental health, the state of families, the valuation of life, the influence of entertainment and gaming industries, and bullying’ as issues of concern."
“Yet, the bishops also mentioned the ‘availability of firearms,’" the conference continued, adding that, "among the many steps toward addressing this endemic of violence" are efforts to limit the prevalence of guns in society through both reasonable legislation and community initiatives such as gun buyback programs.
It's not lost on the Rev. Yaw that the Disarmory Ministry gun buyback effort is taking place during the Easter season, a time of celebration of the Resurrection, in joyful anticipation of the kingdom of heaven, where “swords will be beaten into plowshares."
“This is an extension of Jesus’ ministry of helping your neighbor,” the Rev. Yaw said. “There are a lot of ways to look at Scripture and see what we pray for in the Our Father: ‘Thy kingdom come, thy will be done.’ It tells you that the kingdom is not here yet, but it will be a kingdom of peace, tranquility, and trust, and this is what we’re trying to do to build that beloved community.”
