second amendment – Madison Catholic Herald Archive (2001-2025)

To the editor:

Again, in the wake of the terrible Florida school shooting, Mary Uhler talks about “common sense gun control.” I hear this phrase a lot, whether it’s TV, online, or print, but never hear any answers other than taking away Second Amendment rights.

Let’s take this a step further and start talking about controlling First Amendment rights; there is a lot of anger and hate on the Internet and social media these days, and our young people are exposed to it 24/7. How about the latest video games, that turn human lives into points for the participants?

Letters to the editor

On November 29, 2017

Chuck Kuecker

Problem does not lie with guns but the human beings who use them

To the editor:

This is in response to Mr. Christopher White’s article in the November 23 issue.

One thing that seems lost in all the recent discussion of violence in America these days is that the problem is not inanimate objects like guns — it is the human being that makes a decision to use these objects to harm others.

Letters to the editor

On July 14, 2016

Larry Wipperfurth

Don’t take guns away from law-abiding citizens

To the editor:

After reading Mary Uhler’s editorial in the June 30 issue of The Catholic Herald, I felt a need to respond. The term “common sense gun control” has been a familiar headline in the news lately, but when you read further (as in Mary Uhler’s editorial), it’s just another attack of the Second Amendment.

In one paragraph, Mary says, “I’m not calling for a ban on gun ownership,” while just one paragraph later the heading reads, “Do civilians really need assault weapons?” She goes on to quote a Dallas area bishop who calls for a ban on all semi-automatic rifles. Just think if this logic was used against the First Amendment — kind of scary, right?

Letters to the editor

On January 30, 2013

John R. Smith

America’s problems occur when Constitution ignored

To the editor:

In response to last week’s disturbing column by Stephen Kent and the need to change the Second Amendment, it should be pointed out that all of America’s problems — slavery, the relocation of Native Americans, prohibition, concentration camps for Japanese-Americans, undeclared wars, and Roe v. Wade — occurred when we ignored or “improved” the Constitution.

Even more curious is the Conference of Catholic Bishops’ statement that guns are too easily accessible. Were it not for the Second Amendment, there would be no Catholic Herald, a Conference of Catholic Bishops, or even Catholics, for that matter, since we would long ago have been hunted down like rats, just like in the mother country of Merrie Olde England.

Eye on the Capitol

On January 23, 2013

John Huebscher

Catholics have much to offer in firearms debate

Popes Paul VI and John Paul II both described the Catholic Church as an “expert in humanity.” This term recognizes the truth that through its long history Catholicism has engaged and reflected on the fullness and complexity of the human experience.

The Church’s insights on human experience provide a valuable resource to any generation seeking to craft more humane policies and more just societies.

Eye on the Capitol

On June 2, 2011

John Huebscher

Is conceal carry proposal necessary?

The right to bear arms is protected by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and by the Wisconsin Constitution.

But that right, like many others, is not absolute and may be regulated to a certain extent. One such regulation is our state’s current ban on carrying concealed weapons.

Proposal up for consideration

Wisconsin is nearly alone in that regard. For some time this fact has fueled a desire to join other states in permitting citizens to carry a concealed weapon (CCW). Such legislation has passed twice in recent years only to be vetoed by Governor Doyle.