Heart Control vs Gun Control

             Yesterday, America was shocked and heartbroken at the news that we had experienced yet another school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.  It appears that 21 lives were snuffed out for no apparent reason and hundreds, if not thousands, will be changed forever, and not for the better.  In the immediate wake of this tragedy, it was time for the country to be shocked and to grieve over this senseless violent act and loss of life.  I think we would all argue that it was an appropriate time for the President of The United States to address the nation in an effort to soothe the aching hearts of the country and to unite us around our shared anguish and desire to help the victims; and then came Joe Biden!

            For the first couple of minutes I thought he was going to finally deliver on his inaugural speech promise of uniting the country during this difficult moment.  He was appropriately sad and spoke of the senseless loss of life and the challenges that these families would face to overcome this personal disaster.  He then quickly shifted to a message of anger, and interestingly, not an anger at the disturbed young man who killed these children and two teachers, but an anger at his political opponents.  Before the bodies had been counted and identified, before all the facts were in, he spent most of the speech dividing the country once again along ideological lines.

It is my opinion that this anger and hatred is being constantly infused into our country’s bloodstream and is, in fact, the cause of all of the escalating violence, including school shootings, in America.  From Maxine Waters’ screaming declaration that her political opponents weren’t, “welcome here (in America) anymore” to Chuck Schumer’s threat to Supreme Court Justices to Joe Biden’s condemnation of the horse-riding border guards, our political discourse has become inappropriate, hate filled and even inaccurate.  Our politicians are teaching us that it is not OK for people to have different opinions on our country’s policies.  They are training us that we must hate and condemn and demonize anyone who differs from our thinking.  And this hatred and anger is permeating our society, including our children, with tragic results.  We need heart control way more than we need gun control.

So, now that we’ve broached the concept of gun control, let’s talk a little about the origins of the 2^nd Amendment to the Constitution.  I’m not a big gun owner, but I have studied the origins and original intent of our Constitution and Bill of Rights.  The second amendment was not enumerated to protect the rights of people to hunt in 1787.  The 2nd Amendment was included in the Bill of Rights to protect “We the People” from an oppressive government which could then cancel all of our rights through brute force.

I’m not saying that there aren’t things we as a country can do to protect our schools and minimize crime and violence in our cities.  We do have some very restrictive gun laws around the country today.  Might we need more?  I don’t know, but I’m willing to listen.  How much of the $190 Billion dollars given to our schools for Covid relief has not been spent?  Could some of that be used to improve security in our schools.  I think so, and I’m willing to listen to some ideas.  The 2^nd Amendment, however, is not going away no matter how much Beto O’Rourke wants to go door to door and confiscate America’s (at least Texas’) guns.  Can we do more?  Sure, but that will require both sides of this debate to LISTEN respectfully to each other and be willing to meet in the middle.

And our children seem to be under a particularly strong assault.  They are desensitized to violence and death through video games, movies and today’s music.  Schools that teach oppressor vs victim philosophies are not uniting them but turning both groups against each other.  Finally, if you study the beginnings of the explosion of school shooting deaths in America, there is a direct correlation between those shootings and America’s effort to take God out of our schools in the 1960’s. Bringing God and optional prayer and Bible study back into our public schools would certainly offer a counter balance to the violence and hate offered up by our modern-day games, movies and music. 

Let us not forget, however, the premise of this article.  We, as a country, need a change of hearts more than a change in our gun laws.  How do we do that?  First, we must change our own hearts.  We need to listen to those who disagree with us instead of condemning them immediately before we even understand their positions.  And even beyond listening, we must seek to understand.  When we do this, we will find compromise that will satisfy both sides of any disagreement.  We must avoid the temptation to condemn, hate and dehumanize.  That change alone will enrich each of our lives and unite our country around common ground and common decency.

We must also reject the purveyors of anger, hostility and disregard for others.  If it is a politician, that’s easy.  Vote them out of office.  If it is the media, which it often is, stop reading, cancel your subscription or change the channel.  They will eventually get the message and change their direction or go out of business.  We must let our political leaders and information venues know that “We the People” are in charge and we won’t take the division, disdain and fearmongering any longer. I’m praying for our country. Amen.