Nothing Can Be Done…
21 people died in the Uvalde massacre…19 children and 2 adults.
What is not being reported for some reason is that 38 people were shot.
Evidently, smaller numbers will make the carnage more acceptable while 17 people attempt to recover and 21 families mourn.
We are told that nothing can be done about this bloody feature of American exceptionalism because to do so would infringe upon the rights of people to keep and bear arms.
There are decent, law abiding people who have guns for sport, hunting ,and defense of the home…and they are not the problem.
However, a good portion of the country believes they will be able to stop the U.S. government from tyranny if the need should arise…believing that they will be able to take on the most technologically advanced, most heavily armed military in world history in combat.
Fantasy makes poor policy.
Many in that group are preparing for civil war and want to be able to blow their neighbors to hell .
Some want to be a the good guy with a gun that saves everyone when someone else with the right to keep and bear arms starts shooting in the cat food aisle at Wal Mart.
The good guys with guns in Uvalde did nothing for an hour while children were being slaughtered waiting for other good guys with guns.
We are told that nothing can be done because this is a problem with mental illness.
Millions of people who suffer with mental illness do not own weapons or own them and would never harm anyone …except themselves.
The stigma of our slaughters should not fall on them.
A few with mental illness may find that illness exacerbated by the climate of fear and rage that envelopes this country.
Nothing can be done…because we don’t want to do anything.
Some have suggested that we arm teachers and each school should have armed security .
Freedom means that we all are armed to the teeth and our children are raised up in places that more resemble prisons than places of education.
Freedom means we turn this country into a fully armed society where no one is really free, but always ready to kill.
I would suggest that there are things we could do.
We can pass “common sense” gun control laws that respect the Constitution, but acknowledge that we no longer carry muskets and have a standing army.
We can choose to acknowledge that only America has this problem and all Americans have a responsibility to address it irregardless of political party.
We can stop supporting media that incites rage and glamorizes weapons as a solution to resolving issues.
We can take the politics out of the church and study what the Scriptures require of a neighbor…and study war no more.
Those are things we can do…but we won’t….because this faux freedom and violent fantasy are worth more to us than the lives of our children and neighbors.
“Pro-life”…
Michael
I remember when I put together the lyric video for our song ‘Flags’. Scrolling alongside the lyrics was a listing of the hundreds of mass shootings since Columbine. I had to decide how many dead constituted a mass shooting. Should I include domestic incidents in which 5 or more family members were shot? (I didn’t) Was the perpetrator to be counted if they were killed or committed suicide? (I didn’t)
That was almost three years ago, and even then the list of mass shootings ran into hundreds, just since Columbine. I called you and told you how depressed I was after compiling the list… I feel that way now… and I feel angry… and I feel helpless…
Meanwhile, my wife is considering resigning from her executive position as next year her city organization will be hosting the NRA with 90,000 participants here in Indianapolis. She simply does not feel, in good conscience, that she can be a part of it…
Duane,
We lost a million people to Covid, in part because both parties saw a political opportunity instead of a public health crisis.
The dead in Texas are nothing more than that to the same people.
The experiment has failed…these are just the first coughs of the cancer that will consume us…
Spot on
What source tells about the others who were injured?
I would like to know more. But this mess is reported poorly.
Dread,
I patched this together with reporters from the area on Twitter.
The coverage of this has been confusing and contradictory…but there are reports from hospitals, etc. that tell of survivors…including one child who covered herself in the blood of a friend.
https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/texas-school-shooting-victims-uvalde-robb-elementary/
https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/texas-elementary-school-shooting-05-25-22/h_f97353e752a0689abb61db86cfca38a5
Nothing can be done?
Lock exterior doors!
Allow an armed trained person on campus
AND don’t be afraid to allow trained professional mental health folk to lock up – institutionalize – incompetent deranged citizenry…..
Just MNSHO…. sigh
There were armed persons at many of the school shooting…they were either shot or ran.
The police in Uvalde were inside the school, but refused to charge the room…they were outgunned…and cowards.
There is no room in jail for criminals at this point.
Maybe we should stop acting like guns are religious objects and make mental health care available and affordable for all.
And.
There isn’t a reason on God’s green Earth that just any Joe, Dale or Danny should be allowed to purchase military style assault weapons.
Let’s put a stop to it.
Stand up to the NRA and the politicians they have in their pocket.
So a nation that just sent 30-40 billion to fight our proxy wars in foreign lands is going to suddenly get a conscience?
A nation that is leading the way in choking the resource supplies that fuel and feed billions of souls is going to make atonement on this hill?
We’re prochoice and we always choose to do whatever we wish with our bodies, theirs be damned.
I have the same cynicism as Michael … but different.
Dread,
My cynicism is all encompassing… 🙂
True that
I am fairly sure there is moral corruption in what I write. I delete so many of my posts on FB etc. out of fear I might damage someone else’s faith. In my personal interactions none really cared if they damaged mine, in fact some found great joy in it. Bringing down the walls, serving the Lord etc. I use to love shooting, I was actually rather good. I cant shoot now with my hands being so eaten alive by arthritis. In some circles that makes me less of a man. Some of those sources find things like me far less than human. I tend to agree.
I purchased a handgun one time, I filled out the paperwork was granted a permit but when it came time I did not bring it home. My father, who had passed loathed guns, he served in WW2 in Europe and in the Pacific be for another of our wonder weapons was developed was used. He came home, in some ways, yet not whole. I’m not sure he was ever whole.
I have no answers, I don’t think we can or will ban weapons they are an albatross around our collective national neck. I dont think police can solve every problem but I do think most of them want to try. I keep doing this, and it is a personal, spiritual, human, etc. failing on my part and I will pay for it in eternity. But I hope the Jesus story is true. I have found no other restoration of all any where else.
I had to stop thinking about it and stop looking at all the coverage. I walk into school every morning at 7:3o and start seeing kids at 9 after my prep. From then until 3:30 all these sweet 4th and 5th graders come in and out of my classroom, 250 students, seven classes each day, one grade each day. We’re always busy snd now getting ready for the end of the year. If I don’t focus on them, I may fall apart.
It’s easy for an outsider like me to be critical of US policy and I do so cautiously, recognising my country was given its liberty without having to fight for it…
What do gun advocates say when it is pointed out that other developed countries with far fewer guns, correspondingly fewer overall homicides, how do they respond? Is it that non-Americans have unwisely traded liberty for safety, or that the US has problems worse than other countries that account for the extra murders?
We have mental health issues all over the world (and every country should be responding to those too – we would all rather reduce the number of angry, psychotic or suicidal people than simply disarm them).
For those who wish to keep a gun for the protection of one’s own family – are they aware that the increased risk of accident, suicide or unauthorised use is greater than any risk presented by not having that weapon? In Australia, reducing the number of guns made a bigger difference to the suicide rate than the homicide rate.
For those who wish to retain weapons rather than risk being powerless against rogue authorities – I presume most holding that view are white, but do they recognise that it is black American men most at risk from the authorities? Would they want those men to be more heavily armed and prepared to use their weapons when they feel under threat?
For those holding to the importance of the Second Amendment, how do they understand a well-regulated militia?
I agree with Muff—there is no reason for a person to own a military assault rifle. Their intended purpose is to kill a lot of people in a short amount of time. You can’t hunt with them.I don’t see a huge infringement of the 2nd amendment by disallowing them.
A few years back I saw a somewhat beaten down pickup truck with a sticker on the back window that said “Assault Life” with an outline of some kind of military-style gun. Yes, I know this is Georgia. I HIGHLY doubt this guy is encouraging rabbit hunting with an AR-15. I am not anti-gun, but come on people.
“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.“
Dread
How’s that Federal era town militia working out for you? If you lived in Mass. you were expected to have a .69 cal. musket and bayonet in your home… And, of course, no standing army…
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/101_California_Street_shooting
The 101 California shooting in San Francisco in 1993 was one of the first mass shootings I ever saw play out on TV. My mom was in shock as she had two former coworkers killed in the shooting.I had already been home one year from Colombia (with all of it’s narco and guerrilla violence) where I lived for 7 years, witnessed the kidnapping of two of my colleagues (complete with AK 47s) who were thankfully returned to us after 10 weeks, heard car bombs go off, and had to think through each day personal safety. Yes, I trusted God, but my mission also asked for some common sense on our part, too.
And yes, I’ve had therapy for PTSD, and I do pretty well-but school shootings do rattle me. I start realizing what a porous place I work in, even with our security guards. When we do lockdown practice and barricade the door, I talk about bad dogs on campus. My kids aren’t that dumb, but that’s the standard line teachers are asked to use.
You can quote the second amendment as much as you want at me, but there were no assault weapons available then. I have a hunting side of the family who have always been responsible gun owners. Another family member who is a long- distance trucker has a permitted handgun after several robbery attempts. I just would like to see assault weapons banned for recreational use (if you can even call it that). We don’t let people own machine guns. I see assault weapons in the same category.
The young man who did the deed also needed help he never got. Isolated young people, who have not finished school, can’t hold a job start talking about guns…I just wonder what an intervention might have done to help him? We see this pattern in almost every school shooting where a young man is involved. We still don’t get it?
I’m back to school tonight to supervise our students in the library as they go back and forth for the end of year dance show.The campus will be open-too open for me at this point. But, I’ll pray for courage, focus on my students, and try not to think of what could happen anywhere in any school in the USA.
Eric, 5/27 at 10:54 pm
Eric,
Please continue to be critical. Americans cringe when extremists bomb a school full of kids in Afghanistan, but we allow anyone to buy an assault weapon to shoot down our own children in their classrooms. We have a huge log in our eye.
Our liberty DID come with a fight. No taxation without representation as the British levied taxes on us here across the pond-so-called.
“Give me liberty or give me death.”. Doesn’t seem to have much meaning here today.
Grieving for the lost children and a bit for a nation that doesn’t lock up its irresponsible half witted folk. AND its folk who think being a criminal is an honor….. We can thank the ACLU for this mess – IMNSHO
Duane
I read the comments about the second amendment and decided to post the text. That was it; no comment, no NRA argument. I frankly don’t care if the nation decides otherwise. You took bait that had no hook in it.
Meanwhile the incredible mercy and kindness of Texas and our nation is pouring over Uvalde.
Dread
No bait, no hook… just context.
Dread,
Maybe you don’t feel this way, but I’m feeling very defeated over the most recent mass shootings. If you can’t go to the supermarket or the store to be safe, where can you go? .
I saw your post, and for me it had “bait” written all over it. Context ( the original post and thread) is everything.
So did the shooter in Texas belong to a well-regulated militia? And were those little children interfering with the security of the state?
I don’t mind taking the bait. The 2nd Amendment is never applied the way the Founders intended and should be amended, but it never will be, because it’s an Article of Faith for many people, right up there with the inerrancy of Scripture, and the two things have been confused in the minds of many people.
Well said, Xenia…
I have waited to really say much until the dust settles a little more and there is a clearer picture of what happened. I too am grieved and hate what has become of our culture. I too long to see ‘something done’ that mitigates the violence. I understand the wishful thinking that ‘common sense gun control’ would accomplish the goal of preventing mass shootings. Unfortunately, that genie is out of the bottle and never going back in. Even if you could magically outlaw semi auto rifles and handguns right now and confiscate all those weapons from 90%+ of all legal owners of these weapons, criminals could still get them with relative ease and have virtually an endless supply of ammo. Look at Chicago. Some of the most stringent gun control laws in the world, and yet there are mass shootings there most weekends. Because the victims and perpetrators are black, the loudest advocates of gun control don’t give a shit. But somehow, people optimistically expect the people who have been in charge of banning illicit drugs in a 50 year long ‘War on Drugs’ to pass more laws and have better success banning guns. These are the same people unable to control our borders and who promise to fix the weather if we give them enough money. I can tell you from experience, there are open air drug markets in every one of our large and mid sized cities. People literally waving bags of drugs at you as you drive by. Quality is up, prices are down. The effort has succeeded is doing nothing but turning prisons into a multi billion dollar industry. It will be the same with guns. Pro abortion politicians displaying their ‘outrage’ over the shooting is nothing but Kabuki theater for their voter base. And we still don’t know who is in Ghislane Maxwell’s black book. Yeah, I’m sure the powers that be give a shit about our children. My confidence is not high that more laws will do anything at all except create more tax payer funded bureaucracy. Bet hey, we can say we ‘did something’ right?
As to the mentally ill, obviously those committing these acts are mentally ill. Does that mean all mentally ill people are dangerous? No it does not. Though I notice your caution in labeling any mentally ill person as dangerous, for fear of having all of them bear the penalty for the few, is not extended to law abiding gun owners, who are now called upon to sacrifice their freedoms because people have abused that freedom. I realize that public policy towards the mentally ill has to balance on a razors edge. It goes against our culture to forcibly commit large numbers of the homeless to institutions thus violating their rights. On the other hand over 90% of the homeless are profoundly mentally ill and these people are destroying our cities. (Look at Portland, San Francisco, LA, and Seattle) For many of these people, violence and theft is a way of life. I don’t have answers to this problem. It will get worse before it will get better.
So, what to do? I have several ideas that I think will really have an impact and could change things for the better but they will be non starters even among many Christians.
1. Abolish no fault divorce. Unless one party can prove infidelity, abuse, or abandonment, no divorce.
2. Incentivize the tax structure AND the welfare system to heavily benefit two parent families. Current welfare rules penalize two parent households. Also have you ever been on public assistance of any kind? Have you ever tried to improve your lot to get off public assistance? Basically takes an act of God. Welfare programs need to encourage and facilitate the ability to onramp back to financial stability instead of making people terminally dependent on it.
3. Overhaul our education system Get away from regimented institutionalization one-size-fits-all with an emphasis on evolutionary philosophy ( we are animals) and ‘sexual socialization.’ Get back to the 3 R’s supplemented with life skills training (balancing check book, getting bank accounts, how to interview for a job, conflict resolution skills for family and work and vocational training for those who want it)
4. Clamp down on the firehose of propaganda that is the entertainment industrial complex that bombards us with the message that life is all about unattached sex and perversion and that glorifies gun violence as the solution to most problems.
5. Outlaw porn.
6. Get the most profoundly mentally ill off the streets and get them help, or warehouse them if they cannot be helped.
We didn’t get here overnight and it won’t be fixed overnight. I also realize that the ideas I posted will never be instituted, at least in this country as we know it now. Probably the best stop gap would be to put retired Veterans with real trigger time and experience, as armed guards in every school in the country. I’ve seen the numbers. It would cost between $9.5 billion and $12 billion a year. We could do it. We just gave $40 billion in weapons away for free to Ukraine and didn’t even blink. A lot of people hate this idea, but this is the reality we live in now. We all wish it was different, but it’s not.
Stryker, thank you. You not only summarize the problem but you offer concrete suggestions.
For years on here and elsewhere I have been saying what you said here:
“4. Clamp down on the firehose of propaganda that is the entertainment industrial complex that bombards us with the message that life is all about unattached sex and perversion and that glorifies gun violence as the solution to most problems.”
Hollywood is, as you say, propaganda for evil. It is the devils bullhorn.
I hope you stick around here on the PhxP!
-Xenia
Stryker, you’ve posted a whole heap of solid ponders…….
Sadly, we need more clear thinking today
God keep
If we can’t even make the small personal sacrifice of “clamping down on the firehose of propaganda that is the entertainment industrial complex” then we are part of the greater problem and have little room to complain about others.
Sadly, we need more clear thinking today<<<
We need more than thinkers, we need action, action that might require some personal sacrifice. We need to stop worshiping at the altar of "personal freedom." Jesus is what makes us free, not the US Constitution and the rulings of the Supreme Court.
* We DON’T need more thinkers, we need…
Second Amendment should have reasonable boundaries just as the First does. Those who believe otherwise don’t understand that “rights” are granted by the state and can be repealed by the state. Think R vs. W. Schools have done so much to prevent active shooters—the burden should be on society to do more.
“Though I notice your caution in labeling any mentally ill person as dangerous, for fear of having all of them bear the penalty for the few, is not extended to law abiding gun owners, who are now called upon to sacrifice their freedoms because people have abused that freedom. ”
I clearly wrote: “There are decent, law abiding people who have guns for sport, hunting ,and defense of the home…and they are not the problem.”
Common sense gun laws will not end the problem.
Just like anti abortion laws will not end the problem.
The hope is that both will ameliorate the problems.
What I see in your some of your other recommendations is trading the rights of the First Amendment in an attempt to protect the Second.
Who defines porn?
Who defines what is propaganda?
We have to deal with things as they are, as you said.
This is not a Christian nation and trying to impose biblical morality on its culture will fail.
The problems with mental illness and homelessness are so complex that I have no clue as to how to solve them…except by making mental health services affordable and available to all.
Anger and guns don’t mix…so common sense gun control and a shift in what we take in might help.
We can start by rejecting the nightly rage injections from the media and the nonsense all over social media.
There are so many weapons of mass slaughter in possession already that a ban may have little effect. Ghost guns need to be outlawed. Penalties for illegal sales or provision must be strengthened. Background check improved and expanded. Possession by felons equals straight back to prison. Owners should be expected to keep guns locked up to minimize thefts and access to family members with evil intent.
Most solutions to the problem at hand involve stripping the ‘bad fruit’ (gun violence) off of the tree ( our society.) My ideas lay the axe to the root of the bad tree that produces the bad fruit. Most perpetrators of gun violence were raised in broken homes. My suggestions are given with an eye towards building up and strengthening families. It won’t completely solve the problem but it could help. I am not ‘trading one right for another, or trying to implement ‘biblical morality.’ just trying to look at real solutions and inject a mixture of personal responsibility and real help into the situation.. That being said, it was an academic exercise. Neither party has the political will nor the support to implement even one of those suggestions. ‘We have to deal with things as they are,’ Brother, I am afraid that in the direction we are headed, the only rights you will be able to keep are the ones you are physically able to defend. This is not ending well.
The extent of the problem…
“US gun owners possess 393.3 million weapons, according to a 2018 report by the Small Arms Survey, a Geneva-based organization, which is higher than the country’s population now of about 330 million. India, which has almost 1.4 billion people, had the second most civilian-owned firearms with 71.1 million.
The gap is likely growing after Americans went on a gun buying spree beginning in 2020. The National Instant Criminal Background Check System, which the Federal Bureau of Investigation collects and is a widely used as a proxy for firearms purchases, jumped 40% in 2020 from the previous year to 39.7 million. The frenzy only cooled slightly to 38.9 million checks in 2021, which are usually done before purchases or to receive gun permits. Already, there have been 10.8 million checks through April 30.”
“For decades, auto accidents have been the leading cause of death among children, but in 2020 guns were the No. 1 cause, researchers say.
Overall firearm-related deaths increased 13.5% between 2019 and 2020, but such fatalities for those 1 to 19 years old jumped nearly 30%, according to a research letter in New England Journal of Medicine.”
Dr. Duane failed to mention gang activity on the increase
Em
How I wish it was only that….
Duane, I worked in the firearms industry until late 2021. Part of my job was interfacing with customers for tech support etc. The reason that so many people are buying guns is that they have lost faith in our leaders and are mortified at the decay of our culture. With the defeat of Trump, no one sees any relief/reversal/repair on the horizon. As every institution in our culture fails and no longer serves those whom they were created to serve, people have come to realize they are basically on their own. People watched the Antifa riots of a few years ago burn our cities and the powers that be basically did nothing. This was followed by the government announcement that ‘Right Wing Domestic Terrorism’ was the biggest threat to our country. This lie, and the COVID lies reinforced the conviction that our government is in a free fall to tyranny. Add the Afghanistan debacle, the race to provoke a war with Russia, and the present and soon coming financial crisis, is it really a mystery why gun sales are booming? The swamp in DC has proven to be a bunch of lying, corrupt, incompetents. The behavior of the police in Uvalde is the icing on the cake for many that proves government is no longer about serving the citizens. People anticipate a ‘hard landing’ ( read that train wreck) and are preparing as best they can to look out for their close circle of family and friends.
Fear, rage, conspiracies, survivalists… and over 400 million firearms.
As I said, “The extent of the problem…”
Stryker,
I can’t even fathom your worldview, but I thank you for writing it.
The reality is that millions believe as you do and no amount of debate is going to change that.
Dialog seems necessary, but where do we even begin?
There is little hope for the future of this place…I simply thank God for the place to come…
Michael, from what I have read here, your world view seems no less pessimistic, just looks like the opposite side of the coin to me. Same frustration, fear, and anger, just directed at a different set of people and problems. Though you do seemed more resigned to whatever end fate has in store from your point of view.
Stryker,
I’m very pessimistic, but not because I’m on the other side of the political aisle.
When any society cannot or will not attempt compromise for the common good, we’re in trouble.
When there is no trust in any institution, the culture will collapse.
When you can no longer verify what is true and what is not…all is lost.
Now, I see no Scriptural warrant for trying to win a physical war against ones neighbors over these matters.
In fact, I see the opposite.
The culture is usually opposed to the faith in some way…we are to identify as aliens, not nationalists or culture warriors.
Having said all that, if I had money, I’d be looking to get off the grid, withdraw, and let everyone fight it out.
“ The swamp in DC has proven to be a bunch of lying, corrupt, incompetents.”
True statement—regardless of what side of he aisle they sit on. I was affiliated with one particular party until two years ago when i declared myself an independent
Lying and corruption are the means to getting elected. Begs the question: what came first, the voter or the politician?
Hoppy: “I was affiliated with one particular party until two years ago when i declared myself an independent.”
Exactly the same here.