This wasn’t the blog post I had in mind when I was thinking about what I wanted to write about tonight. But I had an existential murmur that changed my mind when I stood between two TVs, one celebrating Shaun White’s Olympic gold medal and one showing news coverage of the shooting that happened in Florida that has taken almost 20 lives (so far). What a world we live in where we can watch in awe as a snowboarder pulls off the equivalent of a bottom of the 9th, 2 out, walk off grand slam and then the next day be shocked when a 19 year old fires a semiautomatic gun at a bunch of students and teachers. The dichotomy is hard to fathom, yet how normal has it become? It’s slowly and quickly becoming a normal part of life. I read a tweet that said in less than two full months the USA has had an average of 2-3 mass shootings per week. Per week. And here we are chanting “USA! USA! USA!” for a bunch of athletes.
I know the political game. I often avoid it. I’m a mixed bag of social libertarianism and fiscal conservatism. Let people do what they want, but don’t take my money to fund it is what I boil it down to. So I want to talk less about gun control and more about trying to answer the question, “How do I respond to all of these mass shootings in a practical way?” I’m not talking about the spiritual response of “thoughts and prayers”, although that truly is a correct spiritual response. I’m talking about the practical day-to-day response. I think it’s ridiculous for someone to have the spiritual response, but lack a practical response. That’s why non-Christians hate Christians. If you don’t believe in God, then prayer is wasted breath. So to respond to hundreds of people being shot up with nothing but “wasted breath” is obviously going to draw scorn.
Our faith should inform our response to culture.
So when I try to think about my response to the cultural phenomenon of mass shootings, I have to think practically and I can’t neglect a potential political response. What I’m trying to say is maybe we need more gun control. I’m all for greater scrutiny when it comes to background checks. Hell, I walked into a gun shop a few weeks ago and walked out with a gun and 100 rounds in about 10 minutes. I mean, there’s nothing that’s going to show up on my background check, so I’m not a good case study for their effectiveness, but I sure hope there are more controls in place for someone who would have red flags on their background check. I know there’s no perfect response for this very real issue and I know all of the arguments I have thought about listing out could be shot down with better arguments, so I’m not going to sit here and try to solve this in an hour. Instead, I’m going to try to look at this in another way.
I want to be dad. Holy cuss, I really want to be a dad. I didn’t realize just how much until this past year. I want to hold babies, teach my son how to throw a ball, brush my little girl’s hair, all that sappy stuff. Sure, clean up messes and wonder what I was thinking when I said I wanted kids when they won’t stop screaming for no reason, sure, all that too. But anyways, imagine watching these kiddos grow up and go to school and then bang! some asshole teenager walks into their classroom bang! and kills them, bang! their friends, bang! and their teacher. I’d be lucky to get one last phone call before they bled out. I have to imagine in the decades that followed that I would have wondered if there was anything I could’ve done to have prevented it from happening. Anything to have my hypothetical child back.
So if I look at it that way, if stricter gun laws, higher taxes, or whatever regulations on automatic rifles that can take dozens of lives with one pull and hold of a trigger could reduce the accessibility of these firearms and reduce the amount of moms and dads who have to suffer through the loss of their babies…then it is worth it. It has to be. I’m the libertarian who wants people to be able to buy whatever they want. But we’re also the nation that makes motorcyclists wear helmets and drivers wear seat belts. The government needs to protect its citizens and right now we’re losing a lot of citizens to mass shootings. Something has to be done about it from a practical standpoint. Is that too much to ask for? Besides, the reform that would be put in place might actually start being effective by the time I have kids in school.
Assaying of Ipseity
I need to hold my political views with an open palm because you never know what experience can make a theoretical idea a painful reality…and because Jesus has no political party.
Of course the Jesus answer is that it’s not a gun problem, it’s a sin problem, and yeah, I believe that, but I also know that that asshole isn’t going to church to pray, he’s going to shoot. it. up (3 separate links on those words). There’s a popular phrase that goes something like, “When Jesus said ‘love your enemies’ I’m pretty sure he meant ‘don’t shoot them’. I’m not sure this fits in with the article, but it’s too good not to include it. It’s also the source of some anxiety knowing that I have the aforementioned gun in my car at all times. I’m not sure if I could bring myself to use it in any serious and defensive situation. I digressed.
The title of this post comes from a Gungor song called “God and Country”. It considers America’s love for guns as a form of idolatry:
“Gathered up our God oh we gathered up our guns
For the love of country
For our fathers and our sons
Lost a lot of souls
Stained the killing ground with blood
Lord knows we won’t stop the fight until the battle’s won”
The songs ends with the phrase, “Those who live by the gun, live by the gun, die by the gun”. It’s a play on Matthew 26:52 when Peter cuts off Malchus’s ear in the Garden of Gethsemane because he was going to arrest Jesus, but Jesus puts the dude’s ear back on and says, “Put away your sword,” Jesus told [Peter]. “Those who use the sword will die by the sword.”
I have to think that following Jesus means pursuing the reduction of violence in the world. And that the reduction of violence in this world means reducing the factors that lead to guns being used violently against people, through both personal decisions and legal safeguards.
Disclaimer 1: I know very little about what I wrote, most of it may make not make sense, and all of it may have been an emotionally driven mess, but I set out to make this blog a place for me to process my thoughts, so I’m leaving it as is for the sake of authenticity.
Disclaimer 2: Due to an early response to the post–you know who you are–I should add that I’m not saying I have answers to the problem. I had a lot of “maybe” and “potentially” up there. I’m also not a liberal. And the greater point is that I don’t want to ignore the problem. The lesser point is how to go about not ignoring the problem.
Photo Cred: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/formerlyfundie/yo-america-how-many-mass-shootings-will-it-take-for-you/
Assayings of Ipseity 
Mеsmo princípio se aрlica ao universo digital.
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