Yesterday a mentally disturbed young man, killed his mother then took 4 guns to the school where is mother worked and killed the principle, 20 children and several adults. I can see people already taking up sides on either sides of the issue of handguns. I am a moderate and I try to avoid extremes except where my Lord Jesus calls for me to lay down my life for others, so my response to the will likely tread on the toes of both sides of the argument.
In principle I agree with the statement that guns don't kill people; people kill people. But that fact is, is that people are killed with guns and often by people who know them. Except for gang violence, a hand gun is more like to result in the death of a member of the household or neighbor than a criminal. Do I believe in our right to defend our selves? My answer is both yes and no.
I have never owned a gun. There have been times I have thought about buying one, but to keep peace in my household I haven't. I have worked with a lot of people who own guns, and those who make a practice seem to find reason to pull theirs out to "defend themselves" far more than I ever have. There is part of me that thinks that owning a handgun somehow changes one's mind set, or maybe it's the other way around. Maybe those who buy and own handguns for "Self-defense" just have a different mindset.
I have never found myself in a situation where I wish I had a gun. Now I am not advocating banning guns or crazy gun control. I served in the Navy for 22 years in the US Navy and as part of my reenlistment oath, I pledged to support and defend the Constitution of the United States; that includes the Second Amendment. I may not advocate gun control, but I do advocate responsible gun ownership. In the incident that happened in Connecticut this past Friday, I can't but wonder if those 4 guns had been locked up so that this mentally unstable man didn't have access to them if the whole tragedy couldn't have been avoided. The problem isn't that guns can kill people, it's that they make it so easy to kill others on impulse. If that young man had come the school with a kitchen knife the death toll would have been much smaller.
So some extremists think we should eliminate guns, while on the other side people demand the right to arm themselves. Unfortunately our society has so many guns both registered and unregistered, that trying to eliminate them would be a hopeless cause. But how about some simple training about how to responsibly own a gun so that it doesn't fall into the hands of children or mentally unstable people living in the house. The constitution does guarantee the right to bear arms, but we also have a responsibility to control them so that they do not fall into the hands of someone who might use them for purposes other than self-defense or target practice.
One last thought I have is "What could we as a society done to help that family with their difficult son." How could we have poured out the healing power of love so that maybe instead of anger and rage being his response to difficult situations, that he might have had someone who might have loved him and reasoned with him. Now I understand that reasoning with a mentally unstable person can seem like an impossible or pointless effort but my experience has shown me that love overcomes a multitude of wrong doings.
Love can make a way where there seems to be now way.
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