CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (WBOY) — The Bishop of Wheeling-Charleston is calling for an “assault weapons” ban, as well as several other changes to gun laws.

In a statement issued Tuesday about the Colorado Springs mass shooting at an LGBTQ club that happened over the weekend, Bishop Mark Brennan said:

Assault weapons used to kill multiple people should be banned outright, as we once did. Those who use guns to hunt should agree, out of a sense of responsibility to the wider community, to store their guns at a local center where they can pick them up when going to hunt and return them when they are finished. Guns for personal protection were not in the dresser drawers of the adults I knew growing up – and gun violence was much less common. How many adolescents have committed suicide using a parent’s gun! I’ve had their funerals.

Bishop Mark Brennan’s statement on the Colorado Springs mass shooting

H.R.1808 – Assault Weapons Ban of 2022 was introduced on Aug. 1, 2022, it passed in the House of Representatives at the time, stagnating in the Senate.

The bill includes AK and AR types, and defines “large capacity ammunition feeding device” as “a magazine, belt, drum, feed strip, or similar device, including any such device joined or coupled with another in any manner, that has an overall capacity of, or that can be readily restored, changed, or converted to accept, more than 15 rounds of ammunition.” Many firearms’ current standard magazines hold more than 15 rounds.

Brennan’s letter said “Our faith teaches us to do good to our neighbor, not harm, and explicitly forbids us to kill our neighbor. We do not have to agree with the lifestyle, political views, religious beliefs, or immigration status of our neighbor, but we must respect his or her bodily integrity and take measures to ensure that others respect it as well.”

He also said he feels “The pendulum has swung too far to the side of individual rights.”

Brennan concluded his statement by saying “I urge you to think and pray about this matter. May the Lord of life bless you and your family.”

Click here to read his full statement.