My mind is clouded by doubts, and disturbing thoughts. The only words of wisdom that seem appropriate at the moment for us to ponder come from someone much smarter, more loving, and forgiving than I could ever be:I pray for those lost, for those struggling to recover, and for patience as we seek answers, if any can be provided through what is sizing up to be a lengthy investigation. It's unfortunate that the last mentioned, patience, was so eagerly ignored from the misinformed rants of philosopher-comedians to the whims of failed candidates, politicizing this atrocity within the first 24 hours, undermining social cohesion with political tribalism when they really have no idea how to prevent mass shootings.
“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
As this Washington Post editorial explains, gun control is not the solution — not when the problem is that someone wants to commit mass murder. If guns are illegal, the mass murderer will just use illegal guns. Or bombs. Or a truck.So, precisely what gun laws would stop someone in this particular position hell-bent on mass murder? The guy had wealth, access, no criminal record and no diagnosed mental history. Even so, even if the typical grab-bag of progressive implementations were installed, it still wouldn't occur to me that such EVIL would abide by any law imposed on a common people. Quite the contrary, those who turn to criminal behavior ignore law. What does occur to me is that a major shift needs to happen in the hearts, minds and souls to turn the culture from its progressively destructive path(s), be it left, right or whatever political persuasion one falls within.
But if we must have the conversation, I actually think there's much agreement to be had across the political landscape on reasonable approaches to law. Keeping fully automatic weapons in the hands of military only? Check. Getting rid of bump stocks on the open market? Check. (I will say there's a lot of misinformation out there concerning conversion kits, because most still don't convert to full-auto; however, the few that do or simulate it, get rid of them). Major overhaul of mental health in this country? You bet...and that's where we begin to see solutions to the actual problem...
[Of the roughly] 33,000 lives ended by guns each year in the United States ... Two-thirds of gun deaths in the United States every year are suicides. Almost no proposed restriction would make it meaningfully harder for people with guns on hand to use them.Reasonable people throughout our vast political spectrum can find unity. It's unfortunate that all too often those voices are drowned out in today's mass media culture. But that's a whole other discussion in civility that our society should consider observing as well, particularly when acknowledging our freedom to speak & disagree, objective reporting vs. subjective commentary, politics vs. the people (essentially, First Amendment related issues), in the maintenance of all our other liberties & rights (Second included), while maintaining healthy relationships with our fellow American (which seems to be much lacking these days). It doesn't have to be 'ban it' or 'unlimit all', because there is middle ground on this. While this is a bit of a rabbit hole, it does seems to segue into a broader topic of great significance concerning mental health in our country, some of which I've already covered above.
However, the next-largest set of gun deaths — 1 in 5 — were young men aged 15 to 34, killed in homicides. These men were most likely to die at the hands of other young men, often related to gang loyalties or other street violence. And the last notable group of similar deaths was the 1,700 women murdered per year, usually as the result of domestic violence. Far more people were killed in these ways than in mass-shooting incidents, but few of the popularly floated policies were tailored to serve them.
... Potential suicide victims, women menaced by their abusive partners and kids swept up in street vendettas are all in danger from guns, but they each require different protections.
Older men, who make up the largest share of gun suicides, need better access to people who could care for them and get them help. Women endangered by specific men need to be prioritized by police, who can enforce restraining orders prohibiting these men from buying and owning guns. Younger men at risk of violence need to be identified before they take a life or lose theirs and to be connected to mentors who can help them de-escalate conflicts.
A reduction in gun deaths is most likely to come from finding smaller chances for victories and expanding those solutions as much as possible. We save lives by focusing on a range of tactics to protect the different kinds of potential victims and reforming potential killers, not from sweeping bans focused on the guns themselves.
Of course, there's sure to be disagreement here as well, but I think for far too long our society has attempted to separate mental health and instabilities from the evil that men are capable of and sometimes act on when consumed by it. I happen to think there's correlations there that to ignore is detrimental, particularly in the comprehension of free will and choosing evil...
In my opinion, the second greatest gift we have from God, after the gift of life itself, is the gift of free will. We are not slaves. We aren’t forced to conform to God’s will. We are free to choose between good and evil.When evil is the chosen course, the moral imperative and commandment to 'do no murder' is diminished and becomes irrelevant to the ailing mind. This is precisely where we need to focus the most attention on helping our fellow, fallen man.
The real question is, why do so many humans choose to commit despicable acts of virtually incomprehensible evil? The real problem isn’t that an evil or insane person managed to get a gun. The problem is that an evil person wants to commit evil deeds. A gun itself isn’t inherently evil, no more than a knife or a hammer is evil. It all depends on how the gun, knife, or hammer is used.
The only real and permanent solution to this problem is to beg for God’s forgiveness, ask for His mercy, and resist temptation to become evil ourselves. We can’t pretend that evil doesn’t exist anymore, because it keeps getting prevalent every day.
This reminds me of the infamous quote from longtime Democrat political operative (and current major of Chicago) Rahm Emanuel:
“You never want a serious crisis go to waste. What I mean by that, is that it’s an opportunity to do things that you did not think you could do before.”Maybe you shouldn’t do them because it’s wrong to just do as you please.
Additional links: Thoughts And Prayers Are Not Useless After Tragedy, But A Call To Action
How To Talk To Your Kids About Death, Shootings, Natural Disasters, And Other Scary Things
