A Virtual Church

Pass the guns, please

Today

As Donald Trump’s polls and popularity drop, as he is losing his MAGA base and a war he started in Iran, so he drops regulations on guns. Nothing says I love you, like an AR-15.

Bump stocks and rights for the mentally ill are in. To hell with gun control, it’s full steam ahead. And don’t go to Glenwood South in Raleigh at night without a flak jacket.

The number of guns in America remains staggering. There are a reported 393 million civilian firearms in the United States, some 120.5 per 100 people. Every Tom, Dick and Harry will have one, or two, or a cabinet full of weapons they call a “collection.”

Collecting stamps is far less dangerous.

Shootings and killings are part of the everyday fare.

The Founding Fathers could not have envisioned the deadliness of modern weapons. The percussive effect of today’s guns makes a hit even more dangerous. Torn skin, shredded muscles, broken bones and nerve damage happens even if no one dies. Muskets and lead balls were what the founders knew.

For all the originalists on the Supreme Court, interpretation of gun legislation is a no-brainer.

Tom and I have never had guns in our home. Our experience with guns is the accident that happened to a ten-year old neighbor’s son, who died when he found a handgun at a friend’s house. Nothing is sadder than seeing children die because a gun was not properly stored.

Sandy Hook should have taught us the lesson of protecting children from guns. Mentally ill people have no business having weapons.

Friends would say, “Keep a gun for protection in case someone breaks into your house.” At my age, I will live with wild abandon, taking chances, living life as it comes. Of course, it helps that we have dogs who bark as if they will chew your leg off.

Daddy never had guns. Even though my cousins got BB guns and other rifles for Christmas, any gun was off limits in my house.

There was a time when I bought super-soaker water guns for our children. I decided that, too, was a bad idea.

Guns are violent. I will do everything I can to avoid violence. Riding in traffic around Raleigh and other places where everybody drives fifteen miles above the speed limit, darting in and out of traffic is all the violence I can take.

Gun control saves lives. Over the years, that fact has been proven.

For a rogue, unpopular president to hitch his wagon to the gun issue shows how desperate he is.

He has never fought in a war, never even done basic training. Donald would be very dangerous with a gun. But of course, he has “people” for that.

Rampant gun issues indicate we have let the genie out of the bottle. The plethora of guns being sold today will be increasingly difficult to control. You can even see ads for AR-15s on billboards on the side of the road.

As gun deaths rise, as innocents are killed in schools, places of worship and public gatherings maybe a hue and cry will rise for those times when we worked to protect life by controlling guns.

Surely Americans want to protect lives. Serve and protect is a mantra for those who guard our lives.

The North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church has formed a Gun Violence Prevention Task Force that is working with Moms Against Gun Violence. Their goal is violence reduction. View the YouTube video announcing the task force.

Gun advocates need to understand that de-regulating gun control is bad for America. This is not brain surgery.

Lib Campbell is a retired Methodist pastor, retreat leader, columnist, and host of the blogsite Avirtualchurch.com. She can be contacted at libcam05@gmail.com.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

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