Thoughts and Prayers

Today's Thought - Thoughts and Prayers

Today I read that, once again, a man or boy with a gun murdered a group of people in America. In this case, it happened in San Jose, CA. A man known for holding grudges and having a hot temper murdered 8, injured one, and then killed himself. Once again, there are families grieving over the loss of loved ones. Once again, there are communities asking why. Once again, we will sigh and move on, because this is who we are as a country. Once again, we will hear offers of thoughts and prayers. We have come to agree that the unlimited rights of some to bear arms is more important than the rights of others to breathe.

For me, the way responsible gun owners accept this abuse of the 2nd Amendment is disturbing. I think about all of my friends who are responsible gun owners, and wonder how they can allow this lack of oversight to continue. I wonder how they can turn their backs and keep silent when the rights of the people who suffer from these tragedies are trampled on. I think that if I cared about my right to own guns as much some people do, I would be going after the NRA to advocate for education and training and registration of guns. I would want to make these mandatory, because I wouldn't want to be painted with the same brush as these murderers. I would want to be respected, not feared or spoken of with disdain. I would want to save lives.

The NRA used to promote the kinds of things I am writing about. They used to believe in safety first. They, like so many organizations, seem to have become a caricature of themselves, screaming about rights and caring little about life. They continue to influence politicians with payoffs, promoting the insane idea that registering guns (or other forms of oversight) will lead to the gestapo coming to take their guns away. They continue to promote conspiracy theories about a socialist/liberal agenda that is focused on allowing the government to take our rights away. And we allow fringe groups like this to control the conversation.

It is true that there will always be these kinds of tragedies, and that many guns used for crime are obtained legally. It is also true that it is far too easy to get a gun in much of America, and even easier to sell your gun to someone who has bad intentions. Until responsible gun owners take control of the conversation, these acts of mayhem will continue at this alarming rate. And people will grieve. And politicians will offer thoughts and prayers. And we will go one with our lives while we wait for another angry man or boy to murder another group of people. It might even be us who end up on the wrong side of their anger. At least we will get thoughts and prayers. That's something, right?

Prayer - We are once again grieving at the senseless deaths committed by another angry man. We are lost, God, and we don't know how to solve this problem. Forgive us for our inaction. Amen.