Churches urge stricter gun control in US following Virginia Tech massacre

The Virginia Tech University shooting tragedy that has claimed 32 lives and have shocked the US amid growing calls for stricter gun norms, has been denounced as a "new horror of random violence" by World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary, Rev. Dr. Samuel Kobia who has expressed deep anguish over the incident.

In his prayers for the families and the wounded, Dr. Kobia extended his support for more effective regulation of firearms.

"Churches around the world join churches and councils of churches in the US in sending sympathies to those who are suffering, and in upholding parishes in Virginia in their ministry during these difficult days," said Dr. Kobia in a statement published, April 17.

"In deference to those who have died and with concern for the future, we all must ask why such killings happen so easily. Why are these incidents repeated as if there are no remedies?" he wondered.

"We are all Virginians in our sympathy, but many people around the world are also Virginians in their vulnerability to the misuse of unregulated guns," Dr. Kobia declared.

"Wanton killings," "indiscriminate use of armed force" and "widespread availability of deadly weapons" are features of the Virginia tragedy but are also present daily in Darfur and in Iraq, he said.

Dr. Kobia has called for "firm and appropriate controls" on the globalized trade in small arms. He noted, among other factors, that the "pro–gun position adopted by the US administration" has been "one of the major obstacles" to progress toward that goal.

The World Council of Churches, which brings together Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and indigenous churches across the globe, has a longstanding concern for combating violence.

Similarly, the general secretary of the National Council of Churches USA (NCC USA) has also renewed the NCC's call for 'meaningful' legislation to prevent gun violence.

"My pastor's heart breaks for the families of those who died today," said Rev. Dr. Bob Edgar following the fatal shooting at Virginia Tech University.

"Faith leaders have spoken up continually about the epidemic of gun violence in our country," Dr. Edgar said in a statement. "Despite repeated calls from faith and community leaders to Congress and presidents nothing ever seems to get done to stem the tide."

Dr. Edgar, himself a former Member of Congress, lamented that the issue of gun violence seems to get such little attention from those who have the power to do something about it.

"How many more will have to die before we say enough is enough? How many more senseless deaths will have to be counted before we enact meaningful firearms control in this country? How many more of our pastors, rabbis and imams will have to preside over caskets of innocent victims of gun violence because a nation refused to stop the proliferation of these small weapons of mass destruction?," said Dr. Edgar.

Pointing to the NCC USA's 1967 policy calling for firearms control and a March 2000 interfaith campaign calling for an end to the epidemic of gun violence in the nation, Dr. Edgar said, "The escalation of gun violence compels us to call for an end to the manufacture and easy distribution of such instruments of destruction."

Dr. Edgar also invited people of faith and goodwill to send messages of support to a weblog set up by the Virginia Interfaith Center.

The NCC USA is an ecumenical voice of America's Orthodox, Protestant, Anglican, historic African American and traditional peace churches. These 35 communions have 45 million members in 100,000 congregations in all 50 states.

Deeply shocked and saddened by the recent shooting tragedy, Pope Benedict XVI has sent a message through the Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone to Bishop Francis Xavier DiLorenzo of Richmond, U.S.A.

"Deeply saddened by news of the shooting at Virginia Tech, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI has asked me to convey the assurance of his heartfelt prayers for the victims, their families and for the entire school community. In the aftermath of this senseless tragedy he asks God our Father to console all those who mourn and to grant them that spiritual strength which triumphs over violence by the power of forgiveness, hope and reconciling love," the message read.

The college campus of Virginia witnessed one of the deadliest shootouts on April 17, 2007 which claimed 32 lives and left 15 injured.

Among those killed in the shootout were two Indians, one of them Prof. G.V. Loganathan who taught at the civil engineering dept. of Virginia Tech College.

The other victim was a 26 year old student Minal Panchal hailing from Mumbai who was pursuing a masters degree in civil engineering from the same college.

Amid the horror at Virginia Tech were tales of heroism during the rampage, including an Israeli professor – himself a Holocaust survivor – who gave his life to protect his students.

Romanian–born Liviu Librescu, a dual U.S.–Israeli citizen, moved two decades ago to the United States where he taught in the Engineering Science and Mechanics Department at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Although he was 76, long past the usual retirement age, he was still teaching at Virginia Tech on Monday when chaos erupted in Norris Hall, the campus building where a gunman identified as Cho Seung–Hui, 23, opened fire, killing 32 people before committing suicide.

Students described how the septuagenarian Librescu used his body to barricade the door against Cho so they could escape by jumping out the classroom's second–floor window. Some broke legs in the fall, but they survived. Librescu was shot to death during the rampage.