24 Days, 11 Schools, --How long, O Lord?
But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.
--Luke 18:16, KJV
2018 is 24 days old and there have been eleven (11) school shootings so far.
Eleven.
Remember when going to school was relatively safe?
I grew up in the South where guns are right there with Momma, America, and God, even if it is a stereotype. It rings true. While alive, my brother owned guns. He didn't hunt. He simply practiced his freedom to own guns. He was an alcoholic, so I worried about getting a phone call telling me he'd had an "incident" with one of his guns. I cannot imagine what any parent of any child in one of those eleven schools felt when they got an "incident" phone call.
There is no connection between what happened in those eleven schools and the Second Amendment. There is no connection between those eleven schools and any argument about freedom. There is no connection between those eleven schools and any argument about an over-reaching government. The only discussion is about easy access to deadly weapons.
These were children.
Children.
Victims and perpetrators were children.
No child should be afraid to go to school. No parent should fear the phone. My own son, now 26, remarked, When my kids (he doesn't have any yet) are in school, are parents going to be sitting in coffee shops talking about when their kids' school got shot up just like y'all talked about when my school's basketball team made the playoffs?
Will they?
Will it be that "normal"?
I fear we are already approaching that level of acceptance--simply resigning ourselves to the reality that any day, any kid in any school might be shot or be a shooter.
The tragedy is that this circumstance is curable. There is a fix. We need to seriously consider guns as lethal weapons and seriously find ways to limit easy access--even discussing allowing hunters, collectors, etc. controlled access--so no child will be either victim or perpetrator at school (or anywhere else, for that matter).
We are not free if our children are afraid.
Afraid for their lives.
What would Jesus do?
--Luke 18:16, KJV
2018 is 24 days old and there have been eleven (11) school shootings so far.
Eleven.
Remember when going to school was relatively safe?
I grew up in the South where guns are right there with Momma, America, and God, even if it is a stereotype. It rings true. While alive, my brother owned guns. He didn't hunt. He simply practiced his freedom to own guns. He was an alcoholic, so I worried about getting a phone call telling me he'd had an "incident" with one of his guns. I cannot imagine what any parent of any child in one of those eleven schools felt when they got an "incident" phone call.
There is no connection between what happened in those eleven schools and the Second Amendment. There is no connection between those eleven schools and any argument about freedom. There is no connection between those eleven schools and any argument about an over-reaching government. The only discussion is about easy access to deadly weapons.
These were children.
Children.
Victims and perpetrators were children.
No child should be afraid to go to school. No parent should fear the phone. My own son, now 26, remarked, When my kids (he doesn't have any yet) are in school, are parents going to be sitting in coffee shops talking about when their kids' school got shot up just like y'all talked about when my school's basketball team made the playoffs?
Will they?
Will it be that "normal"?
I fear we are already approaching that level of acceptance--simply resigning ourselves to the reality that any day, any kid in any school might be shot or be a shooter.
The tragedy is that this circumstance is curable. There is a fix. We need to seriously consider guns as lethal weapons and seriously find ways to limit easy access--even discussing allowing hunters, collectors, etc. controlled access--so no child will be either victim or perpetrator at school (or anywhere else, for that matter).
We are not free if our children are afraid.
Afraid for their lives.
What would Jesus do?
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