Another Shooting, Are you Serious?

One who is awakened in any town USA; What do I hear outside?  Sounds like thunder, or a car backfiring, wait it can’t be guns going off in the middle of the night.  I now hear screams, police sirens, people congregating just a block from my window.  O no, my Jesus save their souls.  When will this end?  the voices of so many are asking. 

Just a few days ago nine people shot to death in a Californian community.  Again, why did a man take out his frustration on co-workers only to take his own life when confronted by the police.  Families, friends, and co-workers suffering yesterday, today, and only God knows how long the grief will last.  Many of us suffer from the pain of loss after disease takes a loved one, or they become a victim of a tragic accident.  But, to get the news that their loss was the victim of an unexplained tragedy instituted by a crazed person where the reason may forever be unknown.  

We can reflect on tragedy after tragedy where one or many innocent persons were cut down by an assassins gunfire.  Too many of these are still fresh in our minds.  Almost immediately the cries of remove guns from the availability of people purchasing or in some other manner to get a weapon and use it to kill people.  Some will say take away the second Amendment.  Others will attempt to make the laws more stringent that may somehow put the possibility to buy guns almost impossible.  

Is the problem guns?  Most of us own or rent an automobile which in many cases becomes a weapon when one or more persons are injured or killed in accidents that could have been avoided.  They are accidents, but do we promote laws to ban cars?  When we drive in a way that innocent people are greatly injured of killed, it isn’t the car that’s at fault.  

Teach drivers to be more alert when driving, avoid substance abuse when driving, or adhere to the local laws of the road.  These would greatly curtail a lot of vehicular accidents and save many lives.   

Guns are useful when used in their intended arena.  But when we are indiscriminate or intend to harm people, it isn’t the gun that is at fault, it is the person(s) who are pulling the trigger that are at fault.  I am neither an advocate for guns nor a promoter of removing them.  But we must be fair in our judgments. 

It usually is not the average person who owns a gun that is guilty of a crime, it can be one who is angry, despondent, or suddenly becomes a victim themselves through an unknown crisis that may push them over the edge.  If they don’t own a weapon perhaps the crisis will pass.  But, if that same person owns or has access to a gun a tragedy that may have passed becomes a reality.  There is never a clear-cut remedy that can create a solution to stop a tragedy from occurring.  Guns become a crutch in an uneasy situation and too many use it to support their illegitimate crisis point. 

Unfortunately we have all become pawns in a society that leaves us as potential victims of violence and the solution to stop it is far beyond any attempt to bring order.  One primary cause is the lack of faith too many persons have accepted today.  The outstanding adherence to finding solace in gods that please our need for wealth, pleasure, and power has replaced our praise and thanksgiving to God and the rest will become history.  

At times, once we hear about another shooting it becomes too common and this should be a wake-up for God-fearing people to stand up to this perversion of righteousness.  

Ralph B. Hathaway, June 2021