When indiscriminate killings such as those at Virginia Tech and Columbine High School occur, it is a call to challenge gun laws in this country that make it possible for anyone to collect an arsenal of automatic weapons and hand guns with little or no difficulty. In our own District of Columbia we are now being faced with a battle over the legality of restrictive gun laws in the Nation's Capital that is exposed daily to the deaths of our young by gun violence.

Each day in America more than 33 young people die of gun shot wounds in our cities and suburbs. Where is the moral outcry there?

Gun lobbyists tell us that is the criminal and not the weapon. In truth there must be a person who pulls the trigger but it is the gun that does the killing.

As a Christian and a follower of Jesus who was a clear proponent of non-violence I wonder when will the followers of Jesus' teaching finally stand together and say "enough" and begin the hard work of rigorously controlling the sale of weapons of death?

It is easy to blame campus police, school administrators and failed or imperfect "action plans." But the real issue is the one we don't want to address....the plethora of guns in our society avalable to anyone who wants them.

My prayers go out to the families of those who lost their lives senselessly and hope that as intentional and central as our prayers are today, they will lead to action that will end the abundance and easy access to firearms that in fact do the killing.