Sister Simone Campbell appeared on PoliticsNation Thursday to talk about why she's joining other Catholic leaders in pushing for stronger gun control, saying that, "we realized that gun control is really a critical issue to move forward."
"We've got to free our voices to speak up for what our communities need, and that is safety by limiting access to these horrible weapons that we do not need."
Campbell is one of 64 Catholic leaders who signed an open letter urging all Americans --"especially fellow Catholics in Congress"-- to support gun control measures, arguing that those "who share a firm commitment to these values" have "no excuse for inaction."
She justified the gun control legislation as part of the broader definition of what it means to be pro-life. "The argument in our nation has really become pro-birth, when you say pro-life," she said. "The fact is that our church has taught for decades, for over a century, that pro-life is this broad array of everything that supports the sanctity of life. And certainly when you look at Sandy Hook Elementary School and the 20 young children that were gunned down, that is an anti-life action that we need to end."
"This is wrong. Our nation is better than this, and a pro-life stance would embrace a responsible approach to gun ownership," she said.
Campbell also argues that larger social ills contribute to the proliferation of guns and to cruel economic policies. "The violence comes from the same place as all of these other fear-driven policies," she said. "This idea that we don't have enough money to care for each other. This idea that we have to just take care of ourselves, that 'I need guns to protect my family.'"