Note: This piece is the article I am publishing in our church newsletter this week. I thought I would write a separate piece for the Express, but this one says what I want to say, so creativity is not needed. I covet your response to my thoughts, if you so choose, but more, I hope you will address the larger issues the tragedy in Blacksburg, Virginia raises. I'm not trying to start a petition, but rather a conversation. Use the Comments link below this post to participate.
The shootings on the Virginia Tech University campus have shaken both a community and a nation. How to explain the conduct of a solitary student who apparently used two handguns to take 33 lives, including his own.
It was methodical murder. It was planned, albeit small-scale, genocide.
Already, the psychological and sociological pundits are already in action. The alleged shooter was a loner, isolated from healthy relationships. His disturbing creative writing had prompted school representatives to recommend counseling to him, an invitation he apparently declined.
While I am predictably curious about the demons with which he may have wrestled, in this case my passion burns less for the criminal and more for his weapons.
I say “his” weapons; that’s imprecise. I should write “our” weapons, because as a society we have decided people need the freedom to own the kind of guns he used. The result? 33 dead in Blacksburg.
Why do we allow people to own handguns, weapons whose principal use is to threaten, injure, or kill people? Why do we permit access to such dangerous instruments to anyone other than military and law enforcement people?
Many gun rights supporters point to our constitution’s second amendment, and its “right to bear arms” provision. Indeed, a recent federal court ruling raised serious questions about the constitutionality of all gun control legislation, a ruling based primarily on an interpretation of that amendment.
Well, then why don’t we let people own machine or artillery guns? Why not a bazooka or an AK-47 in every home? Because we have decided there are limits even to constitutional rights, we have concluded that machine guns are too dangerous for widespread distribution. It’s time to decide handguns are too dangerous, too.
In case you care, I don’t want to ban hunting rifles or trap shooting weapons. I just want handguns out of circulation. I want anyone caught in possession of a handgun sentenced to serve at least five years in prison, regardless of whether they used the weapon for any other crime. And I want gun manufacturing, distribution, and importation strictly regulated.
More red tape? Yes. A new black market? Yes. Would it even work? I don’t know. But in 2005, 70% of the 16,000+ murders in the U.S. were committed with firearms; of those firearm-related deaths, nearly 80% came specifically from handguns. We need to do something.
Don’t tell me guns don’t kill people; people kill people; that’s a smokescreen. Had you been among the dozens in those besieged Virginia Tech classrooms, which would you rather have faced: An assailant carrying a bowie knife, or one with an automatic weapon backed by lots of ammo? Can anyone seriously believe 33 people would be dead today had the shooter not had access to handguns, had we not decided he had the "right" to bear those arms?
Pray with me:
God of everyday miracles, we need one now. Heal families. Mend a community. Restore hope. Raise 33 of your children to new life. Grant us wisdom and courage for the facing of this hour. In the name of Jesus, Amen.
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4 comments:
Hear, hear. Especially important in these comments is the need to recognize that handguns (or autommatic rifles for that matter) make the slaughter of human beings easier. I know, I know that when my time is up, my time is up. I believe that ... but we as Chritians, as Americans and as human beings should not tolerate the ease at which our society makes it possible for a sick (or demented or, even evil) person can wreack such havoc. God help us. Really, we need it.
I have long held similar views to what Bill has expressed. While the issues are complex in "some" ways, in other ways they seem so "obvious" to me. Let me begin with the complexity - or at least a small dose - I think our country will alway face a tension between freedom and responsibility - I want people to have the maximum amount of freedom but that freedom comes with a great deal of responsibility - so we the people will always be faced with this tension. I will seek now to move to the more simple aspect at least for me - there is a pragmatic aspect to the issue of having the freedom to "bear arms" that should be identified, articulated, and then as Bill offers - put into law - this bearing arms part of our constitution made sense when our nation was being formed - it was a way to keep the government "of the people" - another way of saying this is what I believe to be one of the greater wisdoms of our form of government - a seperation between our military and civilian leadership with the civilian leadership given the power to direct and oversee the military - I have come to believe that power is easily corupted and so this division at least puts some significant checks and balances - being able to do something just because you have the power to do it does not make it right, good, or what "we the people want" - guess I have moved back into complexity - back to pragmatics - I live in a state (Kansas) that recently voted approval for citizens to carry a concealed weapon - this is incredibly dangerous in my opinion - why would any civilian carry a gun except to commit a crime or to protect them from other citizens who are allowed to carry a gun - we have police, we have the National Guard, we the "people" have a vote (which very few of us excercise - but that is another story), we the people will be much safer if we the people "regulate" that which can so easily be used to destroy - mental illness, insanity, bullys, criminals, will always exist - why do we as a country make it so easy for a few to destroy so many because of a part of our constitution that made sense 200 years ago, but makes no sense to me now.
jesus love me this i know
Bill -
In case you are wondering about that last entry -- I was trying to show Greg how this works w/o the complication of an "account" and "password".
Karen
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