One of the New York papers had this for a headline – “God isn’t fixing this”. Of course, the main goal of such a headline is to sell papers. Admittedly, when I saw this, I was offended. Here we go, I thought, bad theology for the sake of sensationalism, ready to neuter God, mock people of religious faith, show that people who believe in God are weak-minded or stupid. Until I realized something:
It’s absolutely correct.
It’s not up to God to fix this. It’s like Rob Base said, “It takes two.” It’s up to us to repent. That headline was referring specifically to the shootings in San Bernardino. We have to repent of the violence that is occurring in our country and around the world. We need to repent of our addiction to complacency in the face of such violence. We need to repent for the lives that have been lost.
We also need to repent of the polarization which is keeping us from having any meaningful dialogue in this country.
Before I go further, let me say this. I have owned several handguns – revolvers, semi-automatic pistols. I have owned several long guns – shotguns, deer rifles. I have also had a serious change of heart about these things and no longer own any guns (marriage and having children made me reconsider this). However, I have a number of friends and family members that own guns, that have permits to carry guns around concealed on their bodies, or that have government-issued guns they use for their work in law enforcement or the military.
I do not want to advocate taking guns away from people who are responsible, law-abiding citizens. I know that there are a lot of good guys out there with firearms that know how to use them, store them responsibly, and are mentally stable and do not pose a danger or threat to themselves or those around them. If you are reading this and you find that it is important that we maintain the right to bear arms, if you end up disagreeing with me, I understand. But please keep reading.
We have to do something. We get caught up in the distraction of labeling things: were the people who killed 14 and injured 17 in California Muslims who were radicalized? Did the man who shot up the Planned Parenthood clinic suffer from mental illness? Maybe these are important questions, but they don’t get to what I think is the heart of the matter. We are addicted to violence.
Polls seem to show a 50/50 split between those who favor stricter gun laws and those who don’t (this all depends on what polls you look at). We are a nation that has valued the 2nd Amendment and our right to own firearms. On Black Friday, there were around 190,000 background checks performed for firearm purchases. This is in large part due to sales going on, like sales for tvs or fitbits or clothes or toys, and most of those firearms will be Christmas presents and the largest majority of those firearms will be used for sporting purposes. That’s great. But what about that small percentage of those firearms that will be used in mass shootings and terrorist attacks in our country? How do we prevent that?
It makes no sense to me that if I wanted to buy a gun, I wouldn’t be asked a number of questions and have to wait for a day or two in order to get the gun. As a law abiding citizen, I have no problem being thoroughly vetted before having access to a firearm. I’m i.d.’ed for buying cold medicine. I need a prescription for narcotic medications. I wait for hours at the DMV (aka hell on earth) for a driver’s license or car tag and registration. Let’s put this in perspective: if you think it’s an inconvenience to have to go through a tighter screening process to buy a firearm, what about those who have lost their lives by the bullet that exited a legally purchased gun? How inconvenienced are they?
If you own a firearm and want to privately sell or trade them, please be aware of who you are selling the gun to. I sold my guns to people I knew and trusted. People who I hung out with and had a sense of who they were, what their lifestyle was like, etc. Not everyone does that. Maybe we need to find a way to regulate the private sale of firearms, also.
I think the biggest thing that needs fixing is to get the gun lobby out of this. The NRA and the gun manufacturers have immunity to being held liable for all of these gun deaths. Lawmakers are handsomely rewarded with large donations if they side with these lobbyists. And yet, what happened to the tobacco industry? They were liable for thousands of death and had to pay. If our lawmakers weren’t under the influence of these big money donors and their agenda to continue to make money off the sale of guns, despite the numbers of deaths that had occurred, maybe then we could have a reasonable dialogue about gun regulation where the right to bear arms is respected and yet it is that much more difficult for those that qualify to purchase guns to get them.
Again, you don’t have to agree with me. I’m not trying to deny you a gun. I’m only trying to get us to talk about fixing this culture of violence. It does come back to God. God isn’t going to fix this, but we have to. And we can get a sense of what God has in mind when we recall the words of Jesus: “Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.” (Matthew 26:52) God is a God of peace and love, and calls us to look upon each other as His beloved creation. We need to respect each other, not fear each other’s ideas and close our hearts and minds to what wisdom might be present when we seek to face down evil together. After all, we all want a world that is safe and free from terror.
The Rare Word 