Guns
Types of handguns sold in the United States.
Here’s the thing as I see it: prayers for shooting victims are fine. They are. I am a solid believer in prayer’s power to help a situation in many respects. I also believe that positive thoughts, etc., also are equally as strong. I remain convinced that these things work in inexplicable but powerful ways. I believe that God doesn’t care about beliefs or their absence in an occasion such as happened Nov. 5 In Sutherland Springs, TX. And yeah, there are other terrorist acts involving explosives, blades, and vehicles. But we do not see the unrelenting onslaught of anything but firearms. And I understand responsible ownership. My wife Nancy and I have a few firearms between us. I’m not unaware of the arguments.
But we can not just pray, etc., and cluck our tongues. Nothing will have a hope of changing if that is all we do. Hunter S. Thompson once said, “Call on God, but row away from the rocks.”
...Row away from the rocks.
If we seriously want to be able to manage these tragic events and minimize them, we had damn well better begin having a serious discussion about how it gets accomplished. But doing the same thing in repetition is not accomplishing much. God won’t save us from ourselves.
We thought school shootings might change things.
We thought that theater shootings might change things.
We thought that business shootings and office holiday parties would change things.
We thought the overwhelming death and destruction to lives and families in Las Vegas would change things.
We thought shooting a U. S. representative who was meeting constituents would change things.
We thought the shooting of a U .S. elected official as a baseball practice was underway for a charitable event would change things.
Not even shooting US elected representatives could move them to hold a serious national discussion like adults should have done by now. Not once, not even a single politician.
Instead they tightened their own security. Some churches have been doing this, as have some schools. But no one wants to talk about what might decrease these things. Not. Once.
Until we unite and force politicians to actually act by leading a national discussion and enacting some laws we can live with and enforce in good conscience and in alignment with the Constitution nothing will change.
And we will hear of these things again and again. And there will be prayers. And politicians will give expressions of sorrow and sympathy. And more will die.
But maybe we are all so stunned and demoralized that we no longer have hope to row away from the rocks. Or we really don’t care care.
If so, nothing will change. Not one damned thing.
Norman Suggs
Norman Suggs lives in Fort Worth, Texas. This post is republished with permission from his Facebook page.