Vatican praises Obama's gun control plan as 'step in right direction'

ANI

Washington, Jan. 20 (ANI): The Vatican has praised President Barack Obama's plan to curb gun violence, saying that it is a 'step in the right direction,' especially in the wake of the Newtown, Connecticut school shooting. Rev. Lombardi said that 47 religious leaders have appealed to members of the U.S. Congress 'to limit firearms that are making society pay an unacceptable price in terms of massacres and senseless deaths'. According to the New York Daily News, in an editorial carried on Vatican Radio, lining up the Vatican's moral support in favor of firearm limits, Lombardi said that he was with them. He added that the initiatives announced by the American administration for limiting and controlling the spread and use of weapons are certainly a step in the right direction, the report said. Obama is trying to rally support for reinstating a ban on assault weapons and requiring background checks on all gun sales. He is facing stiff opposition in the U.S. Congress and from powerful gun lobbies. Considering that Americans possess 'about 300 million firearms,' Lombardi said that 'people cannot fool themselves that it is enough to limit the number and use (of guns) to impede in the future horrendous massacres like that of Newtown that shook the conscience of America and world, as well as that of children and adults.' He was referring to the Newtown, Connecticut, elementary school where 20 children and six adults were killed by a sole attacker last month. He added that but it would be worse to be satisfied with words of condemnation alone. He said that while massacres are 'carried out by unbalanced or hate-driven persons, there is no doubt that they are carried out with firearms'. Lombardi renewed Vatican appeals for disarmament and encouragement for measures to fight 'the production, commerce and contraband of all types of arms,' an industry fueled by 'enormous economic and power interests,' the report added. (ANI)