No more! No more blood spilled in churches, in supermarkets, in schools in small rural towns!  On this National Gun Violence Awareness Day, we, Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary, Western American Area, cry out against the gun violence that continues to plague our country and we grieve with those families who have lost mothers and fathers, daughters, and sons, to senseless murder.  We demand that our legislators enact gun safety laws to protect our citizens from this culture of violence that has so numbed our consciousness.  We urge Congress to initiate legislation that requires universal background checks for all gun purchases and that bans the sale of military assault-like weapons to all civilians.

We are women who cannot stand by and continue to witness in silence the trauma and death caused by gun violence in our country.  As human beings, responsible citizens, and women of faith, we commit ourselves to promote life by acting now for gun safety legislation – because the Jesus we believe in came that all might have life – life in abundance.