Board index ‹ Terror Attacks and School Shootings

[jimwalton]

I ALWAYS hate to the enter the political fray, but the spokesman for the NRA seems disingenuous to me. Of course he sees the answer to every problem, specifically problems of violence, as "more guns!" It's money in his pocket. And the gun owners, more concerned about their own personal rights than safety in the nation, claim that an armed citizenry is a safe citizenry. But none of that has helped ONE SINGLE CHILD in a school building, whether Paducah, Littleton, Virginia Tech, or Newtown. They claim that they have a right to own guns to protect themselves and others, but none of that has helped a single child in one school building. Instead, gun ownership has provided the weaponry for the shooters. "Guns don't kill people; people kill people." Yeah, but they kill people with guns. It's a very deep and difficult problem, and there are good arguments for gun ownership, but most of the arguments ring so empty. Sure, hunting is fine if that's your thing. But, uh, I don't think you use semi-automatic assault weapons for that.

I know we will never take guns away from Americans, just as you'll never convince Germans to drive slow on the Autobahn. I am deeply troubled where rights lead to danger and death, yet people can only see...THEMSELVES.

[MolyRoly]

I have friends who are very much pacifists and that stand I understand that but then those who just throw out ... ban all guns and then don't explain ... I don't understand that at all as a family we have very strong opinions about the right to bear arms and believe as statistics show then when citizens are disarmed, crime and civil disobedience increases It saddens me when such horrific crimes as in recent days in Ct. become political platforms for any side of an argument.
*Why disarm law abiding citizens because of unlawful citizens?
*Why blame an instrument for the murder of others when it's a gun but not when it's a plane, a car, a knife, poison?

[jimwalton]

Annette, I'm not a pacifist, nor do i believe the Bible teaches pacifism (though a believer has the freedom to choose that path if they want). I believe in "Just War," meaning that believers have a right and even an obligation to bear arms and use them for moral and godly reasons toward moral and godly ends. I also believe that to disarm the citizenry gives criminals—who will find an illegal way to get guns (just as prohibition didn't stop the flow of alcohol)—an unfair advantage.

It's just my thought (and my opinion du jour) that America is a bit in the extreme. So many guns, so much killing. The position of the guy from the NRA also bothered me. "More guns!! More guns!! Paid cops roaming the halls of our schools!" (My understanding was that the guy in Newtown came in a window. A lot of good a cop at the front door or roaming the halls would have done. Some of these schools are bigger than Las Vegas hotels.) I just felt his talk was disingenuous at best, hypocritical throughout, and self-serving at worst.

[gmw803]

I've been keeping an eye on the incidence of shootings at schools. There is something going on in our world view that has nothing to do with gun supply,

Howcumzit:

- There have already been more incidents of school shootings in the US in 2014 than there were in the entirety of 2013? (We passed 2013 total on April 3)

- There were more incidents of school shootings in the US in 2013 than there were in any previous DECADE in US history?

- Some people will insist that the two items above are the results of the failure of our government to control guns, without explaining that past decades include the times when bringing a gun to school was as routine as bringing a lunch?

- Some people will insist that the first two items above are the results of the failure of our government to control guns, without explaining that 1884 alone featured several Jesse James imitation shootings at school?

- We, of any persuasion, have accepted the removal of a school shooting as front page news unless the death toll exceeds 15?

[jimwalton]

GMW, it's clear that the people of our society have more anger, less self-control, less moral restraint, and a stronger desire to act out violently. I think (my opinion) is that it comes from "Lord of the Flies" syndrome: when the governing agent of a moral conscience is removed as a social and moral constraint, our animal natures are quick to surface. As the Bible and religion have been set aside as the moral ground of life, there are no longer any reasons to hold back.

Now, many may think that's an extreme statement, but think about it. If we assume something is morally wrong, we must also assume there is such a thing as moral right. And if there is such a thing as moral right, then we assume there is some standard by which to judge such wrong and right. And if there is such a standard, it must have had an ultimate source, or at least an objective basis. But if we take that basis or source out of the picture, we are left with nothing but one's own opinion as the source. If God doesn't exist as the moral ground of life, then what, truly, is wrong with shooting children? If we have evolved from an amoral first cause, via an amoral process, then we must logically admit that we are amoral beings. Why call anything good or evil? It's a matter of preferences. I happen to think that's why we are seeing more of these shootings all the time. Our moral ground is sinking sand.