Just another day in America (US). More students killed. A mass shooting of four or more people nearly every day, and it’s going to keep happening and it’s getting worse. Some will be angered by my comments. The truth hurts.
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” – John 10:10 (NASB)
There are those among us who steal the truth from us.
The Cause
It’s not as if we don’t know the cause. The note left by the gunman who used an AK-47 style weapon with 600 bullets to kill and maim students in St. Louis reads like it came right out of my analysis of the cause of these shootings over 15 years ago. Alone. Isolated. Disaffected. No hope. So make a huge statement at the outrage of it all. Add access to “statement” type guns. It’s really not any different than terrorism and its causes.
It’s not like we don’t know how to secure our schools. No security system is perfect. People even break out of secure jails and prisons.
People in other nations look at us in complete amazement and horror. Similar type people and problems exist in those countries, but mass shootings are rare.
No solution
We’re not going to fix the “Alone-Isolated-Disaffected-No hope” problem. We don’t have much interest in doing that. We blame mental health. Ha! We can’t even fix joblessness and pockets of poverty which have known fixes. We simply don’t care. It’s better to use force to stifle it and forget it.
People who need guns should own them, just as they do in many other nations like the UK and Australia.
We’re not going to fix the gun availability problem. We simply love guns more than our children, so can’t admit that they are a tool that enables the mass shooting problem.
Violence is in our DNA
We spend more money on military force to cure the world’s problems than the next ten top spending nations combined. We believe much less in understanding problems and resolving differences than in hitting others with a hammer. And we do it despite the military telling us it won’t work. Politicians push military intervention and we’ve proven over and over again that it doesn’t work.
The fact is we think violence is the solution to most problems, especially when they might cost money or we don’t want bothered with them, so why is it a surprise when people in our nation mimic that national behavior?
It’s not video games and movies creating the problem. Over a hundred years of studies by people who want to prove these things change society for the worse, have instead proven the opposite. Violence in entertainment is a reflection of us, not a cause. And mostly it’s just escapism with no real meaning.
Problems don’t get solved when people won’t admit that it’s a problem, would rather belief myths generated by those who profit from sales, and they strongly object when their favorite thing is part of the cause.
We avoid solutions
We’ll swear that it’s a mental health problem because no one in their right mind would commit such atrocities. It may be a societal problem but it isn’t mental health.
We’ll swear that removing guns won’t work. Politicians ride this horse like it was tall, white, and mighty steed of truth and justice. Evidence from other countries is that gun control does work. This doesn’t mean removing all guns. The violence problem in inner cities has to do with handguns, not long guns. It takes a different solution.
We’ll swear that if they don’t use guns they will kill with knives. Could happen. Actually happens minimally in other countries that control guns.
We’ll swear that the UK and other countries don’t allow guns and they’re worse off for it. We’ll swear guns are our constitutional right and it’s our right to use guns to overthrow the government if we don’t like it. We don’t run out of excuses. If we need more excuses the NRA type organizations will do bogus research and invent statistics for us. As a society we’re talented at lying. Morality only counts to around 5% of voters, so lying is a clear path to getting what you want and used endlessly to fool others.
Self Defense
We have the right to defend ourselves. Period. But what does that mean?
I was raised with guns and used them in the military. In the last five years I and another minister trained with the police and I shot more recently at a shooting range. I could take apart and reassemble rifles and revolvers blindfolded.
I understand what different types of ammunition do to the human body. High speed rifle ammunition is designed to create huge damage to human bodies. You can still get hollow point ammunition even though most countries have outlawed it because it expands as it travels through the body and is highly destructive with death being inevitable. It’s not much different than high speed bullets.
If I was to go hunting for food I would want less destructive ammunition that didn’t annihilate small game into a thousand pieces. I wouldn’t need multiple high-capacity cartridges. These guns and ammunition belong locked up on shooting ranges. High speed semi-automatic rifles with multiple ammunition cartridges are good for killing a lot of people very quickly.
To defend myself and loved ones you need preparation. Run! That’s the best defense. People get badly hurt in fights even if they don’t die. Learn martial arts – it’s great for defense and you never have to reach for it or unlock it or worry about a kid getting hold of it. People are very fragile and you can easily hurt them and stop them despite what you see in movies. Martial arts is also great for self-discipline for both youth and adults, and I highly recommend it for women – stop living in fear.
If you live in an area where you have to worry about intruders, put baseball bats behind doors. Intruders mostly don’t want fights, they want to avoid confrontation get the goods and leave. Guns simply escalate situations toward violence.
Stop the madness
I no longer care why people shoot up schools and other places. I know why. Our default solution isn’t to fix them or control arms, it’s to just eliminate them. Whack a molly – pop up, beat down.
The problem is unique to US culture. We need to drop the façade that we actually care why or care about those who are killed or care about resolving the problem. The simple, glaring, reality is that we don’t care enough about any of it to actually resolve the problem and we love our violence, government overthrow fantasy, and guns more than our kids.
Please don’t cry your crocodile tears and “pray” for anyone. It’s all bogus gestures if not backed by action. Just sit back and ignore it all. Life goes on, more of the same.
Unless you want to take action: “Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you.” Luke 10: 19 (NASB)
My researched articles on gun violence
Gun Violence Claims Reviewed and Evaluated
Takeaway
I wrote these song lyrics a few weeks ago. They’re available on SongBay.com for collaboration to set to music (free), can be read as a poem in church (free), or used by musicians (slight charge). Any other use, contact me. These lyrics summarize this article.
HAVE YOU WALKED AMONG OUR CHILDREN
By Dorian Scott Cole (Copyright © 2022)
(Hook: Bridge – music only)
Have you walked among our children
On a bright sunny day?
Have you seen them hiding?
Instead of out to play?
Have you seen the worry on faces,
Someone will come from nowhere
And shoot them all dead,
No safe place anywhere.
(Chorus)
Have you stepped into the slaughter?
Have you seen the fear,
In innocent faces who want to live,
Danger always near.
(Optional Bridge or Refrain)
Blood on your hands,
Death everywhere.
Blood on our hands,
Too much to bear.
Have you slipped in their blood?
Have you tripped on body parts?
Have you seen the giant holes,
The bullets body art?
Have you seen them flee on playgrounds?
Hide in schools from killers vile deeds?
Run for their lives at sports games?
Cut down at parades like weeds?
(Chorus)
Have you stepped into the slaughter?
Have you seen the fear,
In innocent faces who want to live,
Danger always near.
(Optional Bridge or refrain)
Blood on your hands,
Death everywhere.
Blood on our hands,
Too much to bear.
Hiding in shopping centers?
Shot down in the streets?
Shot sleeping in their bedrooms?
Twenty-two a day from killer’s treats.
Number one killer of kids is guns.
Gunfire thunders in our ears
We feel powerless and undone.
Our children gone, all’s left is tears.
(Chorus)
Have you stepped into the slaughter?
Have you seen the fear,
In innocent faces who want to live,
Danger always near.
(Optional Bridge or refrain)
Blood on your hands,
Death everywhere.
Blood on our hands,
Too much to bear.
Guns loved for sport can become.
Weapons of death.
We hold our guns in higher love
Than our own children’ breath.
Weapons of war we hold so close,
Can’t be bothered to be safe.
Can’t be kept on ranges;
Keep close at hand – can’t stand the chafe.
(Chorus)
Have you stepped into the slaughter?
Have you seen the fear,
In innocent faces who want to live,
Danger always near.
(Optional Bridge or refrain)
Blood on your hands,
Death everywhere.
Blood on our hands,
Too much to bear.
America’s supposed exceptionalism
Can’t save our sons and daughters:
Stop this horrible disease
And prevent the slaughter.
Don’t let your voices be silenced.
You can stop this killing.
Shout until your voices are heard.
no more blood spilling.
(Chorus)
Have you stepped into the slaughter?
Have you seen the fear,
In innocent faces who want to live,
Danger always near.
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The standard of belief and conduct for Christianity is love. Legal standard.
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If I’ve challenged your thinking, I’ve done my job.
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Our answer is God. God’s answer is us. Together we make the world better.
– Dorian
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