This cute picture of a kitten holding on for dear life is the last cute picture you’ll see on this article. From here, I have posted screenshots of articles I found just this morning of injuries and tragic deaths related to guns. Please note that 90% of these happened within the last week. The others within the past 4 months.
Alright, you win. I will concede. You’re right. It’s not guns. And there’s nothing we can do about the number and concentration of guns in this country at this point. Guns are so inundated in our society, no amount of regulations or laws will help to decrease the violence. We have a mental health problem in this country and THAT is what is causing all this violence that guns have just gotten sucked into. The mental health problem I’m talking about is fear. Fear in “the other” coming to take our families and our way of living. Fear of what we think we know as “the bad guy” as well as a mental reliance on the need to show power, and, I dare say, the lack of Faith in God to protect us and keep His will; instead taking other people’s lives flippantly for granted.
Since Obama was president.. oh, um… I don’t know, FIFTEEN years ago, I’ve been hearing nothing but “They’re gonna come take your guns” and people making and selling paraphernalia about the 2nd amendment “come and take it”. Yet no one has ever tried to take anyone’s guns. Not even tried. But the public is being sold this idea that at any minute, their 2nd amendment rights will be swept out from underneath them and it’s done what it was intended – it’s vastly increased gun sales and “big gun” has profited immensely off the fear they have sold. Everyone who’s anyone went out and bought guns because they were told they would soon not be able to. The gun folks created a false sense of urgency and need and, boy, did it ever work. People who had never considered buying guns went out and purchased and people with guns went out and bought more.
Then there’s the lie that a “bad guy” is going to come and take your pursuit of happiness – whether it’s your security, your family, or your possessions. With the media as we have it, with coverage of every minor crime, it seems like the world is a far more dangerous and scary place than “back in my day” when the news didn’t cover everything and many things were still legal – like beating your wife in public up until the 1970s – after that it was still okay as long as behind closed doors. Luckily, since 1990, crime has been slowly coming down. While I’m sure there are still situations where you need extra protection, having the ultimate death tool at your hand all the time is likely much more dangerous than not having a defensive weapon at all.
I’m scared of guns. I’ll admit it. To me, they are like having an open flame going at all times whenever you have one and someone innocent is MUCH more likely to get hurt or killed because of your owning one than an actual deserving bad guy. And when I say “an actual deserving bad guy” I mean someone who is actually going to hurt you or your family. I could tell you a dozen or more stories of my own family who have thought someone was breaking into their house only to find a son home late from college or just a drunk guy who came to the wrong house. If my uncle had a gun ready to go when he saw his large bulking son in the dark when he wasn’t expecting him, my cousin could have ended up dead. If they had shot the drunk man who was in the wrong house, sure it would have been okay by law, but still would have been murder for a mistake. Capital punishment for misdemeanor crime, or, if you’re a God fearing person, just plain murder.
Should we really be wielding a death weapon with little to no training on how to assess a dangerous situation? Just because you can go buy a gun by law doesn’t mean you are trained to determine the situation and the true “bad guy” if there even is one and thinking you are capable of that is a spit in the face to the hard working, constantly training officers who dedicate their lives and souls to this endeavor. I know someone who claimed they heard a noise outside their home and in true scary movie style, went out to investigate, but took a gun. Luckily nothing was found, but what if it had been someone out looking for a lost cat and you shot him? Or if it was just a raccoon and you got scared and shot it and the shot went into your neighbor’s house?
Are we so callous to other people’s lives that we’re willing to let them end just so we can wield a piece of metal? I’ve heard people say “oh, well, most gun deaths are suicide” – so their lives are not worth anything? It’s a very common self-preservation tactic to make someone else’s tragedy the victim’s fault. But, really, according to several segments in the Bible, we are all God’s children and how do you think He feels knowing that some of his children are dismissing the deaths of his other children. Guns make opportunities happen. Not only are they available for a person’s lowest moment and make a split decision much easier to act out – believe me, the idea of poisoning yourself or slitting your wrist is much more daunting than pulling a trigger – but a person who loses their temper can also lead to deaths – spousal disputes, neighbor disputes, road rage scenarios, family/sibling disputes, sports rivalries, the list goes on and on. Not to mention, unless you’re a world renown knife thrower, a gun can kill several more people in a matter of moments than any other *legal weapon. Yes, if you REALLY want to kill someone you will find a way, but guns make super light decisions or drunk/drugged up decisions lightening quick to change lives forever.
Yes, you absolutely have a right to own a gun, but you also have the obligation as a human being and a responsibility as a mortal weapon carrier for every life that is lost by one. As Ian Malcolm said (about dinosaurs, but it totally applies) “we spent so much time wondering if we could (“I have a RIGHT to own guns”) that we didn’t stop to think about if we should (all the accidental gun deaths).” Just because you have the right to do something doesn’t mean you have to. I have the RIGHT to say what I want, but that doesn’t mean I should, just because I have the RIGHT to drink alcohol doesn’t mean I need to become an alcoholic so the government doesn’t have control of me. There are so many thing we have the RIGHT to, but that doesn’t mean we should or have to go to the Nth degree.
If you own guns to be prepared for hunting, sport, or the government takeover, cool*. But, please lock them up to where NO one can break in to grab them. If someone breaks in and grabs one to kill someone, YES!, that death is on you. As a vet, we have access to very potent controlled drugs that we have to lock up. If we’re sloppy and leave it unlocked and someone steals our drugs and dies, we’re liable. That’s on us. There is no difference between a deadly weapon and a drug. The death is on YOU. Maybe not by law, but by conscience and God, (if you believe).
So let me address the side of the room who doesn’t believe in God: In my experience, people who don’t believe in God still have a very nice conscience, MANY times, nicer than those who are religious, so just be selfish for a minute and consider yourself and the effect killing someone would have on YOU. I have to deal with death on a daily basis at my job. I’ve had to grow a little callus to do all the euthanasias that are required and I claim that if they’re at the end of their life and suffering that I don’t feel bad, but in the dark of the night, when my mind is wandering, I think about how that animal was scared to be there and was afraid that I might kill them, and then I did. And that’s an animal that is literally on death’s door that I just gently nudged off the edge. If I were to kill a PERSON who just made a mistake or even had mal-intent I wouldn’t be able to sleep ever again (as I’m sure soldiers and police officers experience). I feel like some people just don’t consider that when they flippantly claim they would shoot and ask questions later.
If you do believe in God, and own guns to defend yourself, why do you lack faith? First of all, the ten commandments – the ultimate of Godly rules – states: “Thou shalt not kill.” Period. There is no asterisk beside it, there is no foot note. Jesus goes on to say that “murder comes from the heart”. So, if you purchase a gun with the intent to shoot someone that has offended you or even scares you, you have committed murder in your heart. There are SO many other not-as-deadly ways to defend yourself. Pray to God to keep you and your family safe, use mace, or pepper spray, call the police if there’s time, take a self defense class (support local business!), get a security system, or just have an escape route, or safe room, if someone breaks in, offer to help the bad guy carry the TV out, yell that you have a gun even if you don’t (shhhh! I won’t tell), get a BB gun or paint gun, etc. The list of things you can do BESIDES attempted murder is endless. **
*I think it’s cute you think you have a chance against a group who has access to technology like drone strikes and tanks and aerial defense. I’m not sure WHY you think the government would take over a country they already own, and the less people there are in the country, the less money they can collect, so killing taxpayers seems backwards.
**Now, I’m sure there are instances where killing someone is the only viable option and I know that God will forgive you/understand if you repent in your heart, but let’s try to not make it the FIRST option.
Now I’m just going to finish posting all the screenshots I took just this morning.
