Our nation has once again seen multiple shootings that have resulted in many innocent deaths. Every time it happens, people, from the president to the plumber (after flaccid thoughts and prayers) start to point fingers and make accusations about the ideology behind the shootings. Instead of looking at what I believe are the two main culprits – mental illness and easy access to weapons of war – the first thing too many people go to is ideology. The labels fly, words and slurs are shot like arrows, and those accusations are usually, if not wrong, too complicated for easy analysis. I am a law-and-order person; I believe there are some crimes that do not deserve parole or leniency – ever. I also believe that, to murder someone – not self-defense or the defense of others – one has to have some level of mental illness. Not matter how frustrated or angry I have been, I have never even been close to picking up a gun and killing someone.
We have had a mental illness problem in America for decades, if not our entire existence. We have also had an unnatural affection for firearms. We haven’t created a climate that makes it safe for people who are struggling with mental illness to get help, and we haven’t used common sense or logic to address gun use and ownership. In most of the mass shootings I have read about, the shooter attained weapons legally and easily. We have uneven rules from state to state concerning background checks, training, and licensing. We also make it difficult for people who need care to get it. And yes, these shootings often have an ideological aspect to them, but that is, to me, a secondary issue.
We have the right to freedom of speech, and we have the right to bear arms; that doesn’t mean there are no limits to those rights. As long as we refuse to have a conversation about how to live in balance with each other’s ideologies, we will continue to see the kind of mayhem being produced from our obstinance, arrogance, and stubborn resistance to listening to one another. Meanwhile, more innocent people will die at the hands of people who might be helped, or at least hindered, from wielding weapons of mass destruction. And history will remind future people that we loved our guns and personal freedom more than we loved our children.
Prayer – Holy God, do not forgive us until we find a way to fix our ignorance. Amen.
Today’s art is “Queens of Mourning” by Elinore Edge.