Tag Archives: gun control

our culture of death is killing us

This is a follow up to my last post on gun control. Since that time, I attempted to purchase a rifle. Filled out the online form at the store, and assumed they would tell me there was a waiting period while a thorough background check was done. I figured it would take at least a few days. It took 10 minutes. I could have walked out of the store with my rifle less than 1/2 hour after walking in. The boy was confused when I told him I had changed my mind, but he could not have been more confused than me.  So I checked my state’s laws on gun purchases. No waiting period.

No time for a person to cool down. No space for someone to change their mind about killing their spouse, neighbor, teacher…whoever. And that’s just what I found in a very quick internet search. I’m sure there is much more that just wouldn’t make sense to me.

So yeah, I’m a Republican and a supporter of the 2nd Amendment. And I want some kind of gun control.  But the more I’ve thought about it, the more I’ve realized that guns are only a very small part of the reason kids are shooting up their schools.

There is an argument about other countries who have tighter gun control laws, and lower incidents of gun shootings as a result. But surely that isn’t the whole story. So I want to ask questions about those countries that people talk about.

What is their abortion rate? How many of their cities have gangs, and children who witness murder, whether by gun or some other form on a far too often basis? What kind of television shows and/or movies are their children watching on a regular basis? What are the typical video games are people playing?

Do those countries have the same culture of death and desensitization to murder as the United States? Are their young people being raised with the same disregard for human life as ours?

While I do believe there needs to be some kind of gun control other than what currently exists, I do not believe that guns are the entire problem. And I don’t believe that gun control is the solution we think it may be.

The problem is our culture. And until we are willing to admit that, and take steps to change it, kids will continue to kill kids.

Unless we are willing to say that killing unborn children is wrong, our kids won’t believe it’s wrong. Unless we are willing to stop the barrage of violence that entertains them, they will continue to find death and murder to be primarily entertainment. They will not understand that you can’t just start the game over, as though death didn’t happen.

So the easy access, almost non-existent mental health checks, and various other loopholes in gun laws is a huge problem, and immediate change is needed. But it is just a floating piece of ice that looks easy to maneuver around. Because we don’t see the iceberg that is below the surface, and that iceberg is what will ultimately sink us.

I believe the Church can shift a culture. When we stand on truth and refuse to back down. When we choose to live counter-cultural lives. When we raise our children in a Kingdom culture. When we take the culture of the Kingdom of God into our workplaces. When we move into the spheres of this culture, bringing light with us into government, education, healthcare, the justice system, and the entertainment industry, to name a few.  When we choose, at every level, to live counter to the culture around us, including what we allow to entertain us. A culture is shifted when a stronger culture begins to move in. We have watched this happen in our country, to the detriment of our country. But I will always believe that the Church has the power to shift atmospheres, shift cultures, and shift this war that is threatening the next generation.

gun(out of) control

I try not to get entangled in the affairs of man, in the political system or the endless debates of right vs left. So I rarely comment on those types of posts, and I certainly avoid writing about them myself. But sometimes, you know. Sometimes a thing is just too big to ignore. Sometimes what’s happening makes me cry. Surprisingly, it’s not the school shootings I’m referring to (although they make my heart break hard and imagine my grandchildren and feel overwhelmed with sorrow). It’s the inevitable aftermath of biting and devouring that happens in this nation that makes me weep. It’s two sides that refuse to back down and who turn on one another because there is no one else to turn on. It’s all of us blaming each other because someone has to be responsible for this horrible thing, and it can’t be us.

I lean to the right. Conservative. I vote Republican. And I firmly believe in the right for citizens to bear arms, to be able to protect themselves and their families.

But something has to change. Someone has to step out of the ranks and move toward the middle ground. So I’m re-thinking my stand. Not entirely, just considering whether or not I’m standing there because it’s the right place to stand, or because that’s where a conservative, Republican-voting, right-leaning person is supposed to stand. Because I don’t think the luxury of that exists anymore. I don’t think we can just band together to try to outnumber the other side. I don’t think that voting a certain way means that I cannot think for myself.

Because our nation’s children are being killed off. And because of who I am, I lay that blame at the feet of Satan. Because of who I am, I know that this is a spiritual battle first and a gun control battle second. And because of who I am, I believe that we are not helpless. I believe things can be changed and the tables can be turned. I believe this is the role the Church must play. The role of prayer and covering and warfare belongs to us.

I believe that the generation the devil is trying to wipe out can become his greatest nightmare, if the Church will engage the war on a spiritual level.

But I also believe that something needs to shift in the natural as well. So I’m trying to really nail down where I want to take my stand. I don’t think it has to be all or nothing. Take away all guns or take away none. That’s the lie being sown into the battlefield between left and right. Sure, there are some who think no ordinary citizen should own a gun, and there are some who think that ordinary citizens should be able to have their own arsenal of mass destruction. But here, in the land of reality, I don’t think the majority are thinking either of those things.

I wish we could all just come to the table, and leave our hostility outside. Leave our political persuasions outside. Leave our pride and our anger outside, and just, for the love of good and our children, come to the table with a desire for a solution.

I’m willing to step out of the ranks of my conservative, right-leaning army and say that I do not believe that a 19-year-old boy should have access to an AR-15, for any reason. I  believe there needs to be a drastic change to how anyone of any age is able to get access to any kind of gun, and by that I mean it needs to be a very hard process.  I think there should be over the top punishments given for any crime involving a gun, as in NO crime that involved a gun should end up with a ruling of “probation”. Jail time every time. And three strikes you’re out. I think those who sell guns have to be at this table and they have to want to make it hard for someone to buy what they’re selling. For the sake of our children.

Beyond that, I don’t know. I just know that a house (nation) divided against itself will not stand, so at some point everyone trying to take a stand will no longer have that freedom. So it may be a good idea for us to consider sitting down. Together. As humans. As citizens of a nation that is imploding. As mothers and fathers. As people who think that our children are more important than our political beliefs. More important than our rights. More important than our need to be right. More important than left or right, liberal or conservative. Our children are important enough to lay aside our politics and come to the table with actual ideas. And a willingness to listen. That means we have to be able to acknowledge that the other side is not necessarily wrong, just because they are on the other side.

I believe that we are parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles and we love the kids in our lives and we are sick and tired of people shooting at them. So what are we going to do about it?

Comments are good. Dialogue…good thing. A conversation about this epidemic is most welcome. But either side spewing out the same old opinions, justifications, and explanations? Nah. We have to start a new conversation.