Guns - Nothing Will Change

Well, another mass shooting.

Of course, we pray for the souls of those who were killed.  58 so far have died.

Of course, we pray for healing for the more than 500 who were wounded. 

Of course, as always, nothing will change.

Well... stock went up in two gun manufacturing corporations.   Other than that, I can’t see a blessed thing changing.  The gun interests are too strong in the United States.  Their goal is zero regulation of guns of any sort, zero limitations.  And at this point, they’ve pretty much got it.

Now, I’ve been in conversations with gun lovers who complain that the US has too many gun laws, that we are the most heavily regulated country when it comes to guns, that Chicago’s draconian gun laws don’t protect their citizens even a little.

Their point is that gun laws don’t work.  THAT must be why they spend so much money and energy trying to shoot down proposed laws in congress.  

Although I don’t believe that a thing will change, I DO believe that things could.  I do believe that gun deaths could be dramatically reduced - whether it be accidental, a crime of passion, shootings in the commission of another crime, or the inevitable mass shooting.  

What would it take?  Nation-wide gun laws - each law applying everywhere in the country.  The patchwork of laws around the country mean that the strictest laws are easily side-stepped by just going to a different city or state.  There’s no border patrol at state lines, so there’s nobody to make sure you don’t transport them into a state with stricter laws.

Then there are the exemptions for private sales or for gun show sales.  What if there were a nation-wide one-month (or even one-week) waiting period?  What if there were a nation-wide ban on anything that might be mistaken for a military assault-style weapon (AR-15, for example).  What if there were a nation-wide requirement that every gun owner pass an annual (or even every-five-year) test and had to be insured in the same way that car owners have to be insured?  What if there were a nation-wide ban on those who were ever convicted of a violent crime ever again owning a gun?  What if there were a ban on those who are under care for mental illness from owning a gun - at least until their doctor declares them fit?  

There are many other “what ifs,” but none of them will ever make a difference.  As one guy I went to high school with said on Facebook, “No waiting period!  I’m not giving up my rights for someone else.”  

That’s the country we live in.  I want my rights to have my toys, and screw the rest of you.  And I do not exaggerate.  It really and truly is a “screw the rest of you” attitude.  That is one of the hallmark’s of American society.  Don’t tell me what to do.  If I want it, I deserve it.  Nobody else matters but me.

Another defining mark of Americans is that we do not trust other people.  Or to be precise, we see virtually everyone else as a potential threat.  By that I mean that this is our default, our starting point - do not trust, be ready to strike, be ready to win.  We raise our children to see others as the enemy.  (I remember studying in Germany and trying to describe “school spirit” and “rival schools.”  It completely baffled them, struggle as they might to understand why one school would see another as the enemy).  So if we see everyone else as a potential enemy, there can be little wonder that we are so ready to bring deadly force to bear.

That’s one big reason (beyond the “I want it, so I deserve it” attitude) why so many Americans want to carry guns with them at all times.  

But all the gun ownership in the world (certainly in the country) will not stop the violence, accidental or intentional.  We will continue to have more gun deaths than anywhere else in the world that’s not the site of a war.  We will continue to have mass shootings and gang shootings and accidental shootings and police shootings and suicide shootings and shootings of passion...

Las Vegas will change nothing.  

Until enough people in this country have a spiritual awakening - or conversion - they will cling to their efforts to be the “good guy with a gun”, thinking that will actually solve anything.  

What else won’t change is the fact that all those guns in our possession will do more harm than good.  The number of bad guys thwarted by good guys with a gun (who aren’t cops) is dwarfed by the number of good guys with a gun who accidentally shoot an innocent person - sometimes their own child.  You just can’t rest fast enough when something like Las Vegas happens.  All those people could have been packing, and it would not have stopped the carnage even a bit.  The element of surprise makes all those guns meaningless.

But again, people will continue to cling to their guns, to their fantasy of saving the day and ridding the world of one more bad guy, to “protecting” themselves.  Statistically, of course, gun owners are no safer than people who never carry a gun (and might be less safe), but that will change nothing.

Nothing will change because this is America, and my right to own guns is more important than someone else’s right to live.  

So go pray, if you want.  But be warned - I don’t think God cares if you pray for the victims of gun violence unless you are also willing to do something about it.