Gun Violence

“Prayer that leads to action” is needed to counter a bewildering rise in mass shootings and gun violence, said Atlanta Archbishop Gregory J. Hartmayer.

Five women were shot, one fatally, in the waiting room of a medical office in Atlanta May 3, sparking area lockdowns and a manhunt that lasted into the late evening.

Washington state enacted a new law April 25 banning the sale, manufacture and import of assault weapons, or military-style semi-automatic firearms such as the AR-15, a weapon that has been used in some of the recent mass shootings in the United States.

Arizona’s Catholic bishops praised the state’s Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs for vetoing legislation on gun regulations they called “problematic.”

The three Catholic bishops of Tennessee — Bishop J. Mark Spalding of Nashville, Bishop David P. Talley of Memphis and Bishop Richard F. Stika of Knoxville — and the Tennessee Catholic Conference have included their names on a letter to Gov. Bill Lee and the Tennessee General Assembly urging passage of gun safety measures.

Amid calls for prayer and praise for first responders, officials confirmed that four people were killed in an April 10 mass shooting, Easter Monday morning, in a downtown bank in Louisville, Ky.