Stop talking about the Second Amendment...

I’m weary of hearing about gun control and I think that its opponents are making a fundamental mistake in their argument.

First, let it be said that I am not for more gun control laws. I don’t want our Second Amendment rights to be diminished…And I don’t own a gun.

 

But, correct as it may be, focusing the argument against gun control as a loss of our rights and our freedoms is a mistake. Consider the audience they are trying to persuade.

The right to bear arms is a right most people do not exercise. Frankly, most people don’t care if they can get a gun or not. They don’t see a loss where there is none for them. It’s someone else’s problem. More gun control laws won’t have a direct effect on most people’s lives, and when this is so, they don’t really care about the subject. The loss of rights argument is moot to them.

They do care about 20 little kids who were killed by a madman.

If gun control opponents want to gain support from the general population, I think they should be focusing on the fact that the regulations being proposed will not work. They wouldn’t have protected those kids and teachers at Sandy Hook, and they won’t stop the next madman either. This is what they should be talking about – over and over and over. It should be stated as fact that laws cannot make us safe and secure. Security from the law is dependent on people who have the will to obey it. Madmen are not usually amongst this group…

The protracted discussions on what gun laws to implement; the endless arguments; the laws that will be passed are just a monumental waste of time, and a dishonor to those who died.

We are a foolish people indeed to think that a law about how many bullets you can carry will protect us from evil. If that is our solution to the tragedy at Sandy Hook, I would be embarrassed to look into the eyes of those little angels who faced the darkness and tell them it’s all okay now.

Because it’s not…and until we resolve to meet evil from a position of strength, it won’t be.

And that’s what gun control opponents should be talking about.

Newtown, Conneticut

Newtown, Connecticut…quite far away from my corner of the world, but my heart is still heavy with the grief of the losses suffered there. Just a few years ago, I was a school secretary and would have been the first line of defense for any threat that tried to enter the front door of the elementary school.

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what I would have done…and how my heart would have been crushed to fail at such a mission…and how those women in Connecticut gave their all, literally, to save the kids.

And still, not all of them were saved.

So immediately, there is the rush to outrage, and blame, and demands that such tragedies be prevented…

But what if we can’t? What if it is no one’s fault? What if we cannot always stop evil?

Our immaturity causes us to demand new laws that, in reality, cannot produce the desired result. Even worse, we are satisfied with the symbolism of such laws and consider the problem addressed, resolved.

We are content to say, “Someone should stop that!” instead of, “I will not let that happen again.”

Evil is real, and present in our world. Thank God that we are not blasé about the loss of life, the terror and the tragedy…But there are countries in our world where it is an everyday occurrence…where it is never a given that everyone will come home each night. It is good for us to realize that security is not guaranteed, nor can it be. There are madmen out there from whom there is no protection. And we are fools if we think that we can quarantine evil by laws directed at the lawless.

Rather than look for someone else to secure our safety, we need to wisely consider how we will face the madman when that day comes. Perhaps it will be our day to give it all to save some…something that cannot be done unless one is certain of their purpose, and believes that ultimate security is in the hand of God.

In the meantime, perhaps we should be standing against evil by coming alongside the family of the difficult child, the mentally ill, the addicted, the out-of-control rebel. The first defense against evil is not another law, but for each of us to love our neighbor…in deed and in truth…

“Ask not for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee…”