Pasadena church calls for stronger gun laws after over a dozen mass shootings this weekend

Nestled in the heart of Pasadena, a banner calling for stronger gun laws continues to fly outside All Saints Church near the many prayers written down for the Uvalde school shooting victims.

"The primary emotion that comes up after, the sadness and the grief and the shock, is anger," said Pastor Mark Chase. "Because we are a nation that began in gun violence."

According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, firearm deaths nationwide have increased by nearly 35% from 2019 to 2020. Additionally, not only do guns account for 79% of all homicides in the United States, but firearm-related deaths broke a grim record, with over 45,000 people killed — 54% of which are from suicide and 43% from murders. 

Over the weekend, 13 mass shootings claimed the lives of more than a dozen people throughout the country. In the same time span rallies and marches took place across the nation by gun safety advocates. Chase, whose parish is known for its stances on many social issues, took part in a similar march in Pasadena calling for action. 

"In so many ways it is beyond gun control," he said. "Because if our society is healed and if our communities are flourishing and healthy... People have jobs and people have resources and people have what they need at their disposal — gun violence will go down."

Retired professor of criminology and criminal justice at Florida State Gary Kleck said emotions aside, lawmakers need to look at the bigger picture and see what will actually work. 

"That's the problem, people try to adopt solutions that are fitted to the latest mass shooting," he said. "They don't necessarily have any relevance to the sort of violence that involves single victims that account for 99% of the gun deaths in America." 

While Chase calls for stronger gun laws in hopes to drive down gun violence, some gun rights advocates said that more people armed will keep more people safe — including school children. 

"It only makes sense to harden schools and provide people within the schools, the good people that work there that are willing to be trained, to be armed," said Iowa Firearms Coalition President Dave Funk. 

As Chase continues to advocate for gun control, a bipartisan group of senators spent the Memorial Day recess trying to craft a compromise in gun control laws, which some Democratic lawmakers want to vote on this week.