Melting Down

As I sat down to write this blog post as a follow up to my earlier Advent post I clicked over to the Huffington Post website as I would be referencing an article I had read off of their website. I had thought about bookmarking the religion section previously but I hadn't done that yet so I went to the homepage where I saw this image:

This was not what I wanted to see. Twenty seven dead. We now know that there were twenty children in that count not 18. Twenty eight total were killed that day, including the gunman.

If there is every anything that could shake a person to the core, this is it. There is no way to explain this tragedy. No words that can ease the pain of these families. As I rode the bus home the day of the shooting a woman was finding out about what had happened over the phone and all she could say was "oh no. Oh no."

The very first comment I read from a non-journalist as details of the shooting still emerged was "I never understood "Gun-free" zones. It's absolute madness." This was the first comment I read. I can't stress that enough. If there is something that could make me more upset when learning about a mass shooting is the argument that schools and other places should have more guns not less so that people can stop those who go on a rampage quickly. The shooters identity wasn't even speculated yet. The number of kids dead wasn't known. And the first thought that jumped into that persons mind was "this is why we need more guns". It is truly horrifying. To complicate matters for myself and the people I know, the night before the shooting my homestate's congress passed a law to allow concealed weapons into churches, stadiums, and yes, schools. 

I would go on to read a comment off of a pastors post explaining how ridiculous this notion is "Well... if that Kindergarten teacher had a gun in her purse..." This shooting is such an insane and incomprehensible occurrence. A Kindergarten classroom. All the victims that were children were either 6 or 7 years old. There shouldn't need to be any sort of threat to the safety of these kids. It is just unfathomable. The last thing a Kindergarten classroom needs is a gun in it.

Children are naturally curious. They don't yet understand societal rules or what consequences actions can have. If you introduce guns into that classroom all that would need to happen is to have one child find the gun owned by the teacher and a stupid, horrible tragedy could occur that should have never happened. In truth school shootings are incredibly rare. Adding more guns to schools does not have any chance of lowering the risk of a school shooting, it only raises the risk.  

This shooting can, in no way, be used to justify guns in schools. That sentence is just a crazy one inherently. Guns in schools? What are we teaching our kids by allowing that? We sow the seeds of inherent distrust of all, we suppose that each new person we meet is trying to kill us, and we teach all of this at school where teachers walk around carrying pistols. People have accused video games and movies and music of teaching kids violent behaviors. What about when we start teaching them violence in school as part of the law? What do we teach them when the ones educating them are ready to take a life?

I took out an examination of the second amendment to the constitution out of this post. While I believe fully that gun-ownership is not a protected right in the bill of rights that argument is for a different time and place. However, it is the time and place for is changing the laws in this country. 

The Wall Street Journal tracked homicides from 2000-2010 in the United States. Here's what they found: 2/3rds of all homicides in the US were caused by guns. over 111,000 of them in that 11 year span. Over 10,000 people killed by guns every year. That's over 27 people a day. See that is ultimately what is so awful and disgusting about this shooting in Newtown. Every single day Newtown is happening. It doesn't usually happen in one location, but everyday 27 people are being killed by guns. That's not just me adjusting the numbers to reflect the Newtown shooting. 10000/365=27.397. And that's me rounding down, not up.

Guns have one purpose and only one purpose. To kill. And they kill over 27 people every day. Newtown was not the exception to the rule. It was the rule, spelled out in a way that we can easily see. I don't know if there's a stronger argument against guns. 

There have been many insightful posts after this tragedy to explain how this was evil, how the God of creation mourns with us, how this should never happen. And there have been some less than insightful things said about how this is "justice" for such atrocities as letting people marry other people who love them. I won't even touch that because 1) I can't hope to do a better job than the insightful people who have already posted and 2) I won't even waste my time tearing down words meant only to inflame.

Instead let us look ahead to the future:

"Many people will come and say 'Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways, so that we may walk in His paths. The law will go out from Zion, the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He will judge between nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation nor will they train for war anymore.'" -Isaiah 2:3-4 

I await the day when we melt down our weapons and repurpose them as tools to feed our children.

Lord, forgive us for the times when we let the broken people slip through the cracks. Forgive us for the times when we sit idly by because we assume that another tragedy can't happen again. Not again. Forgive us for not loving each other enough to beat our swords into plowshares and our spears into pruning hooks. Be with the people of Newtown, CT as we continue to mourn because of this tragedy and may your light shine through in this darkest time. We remember oh Lord that a mere 11 days after this tragedy we will remember the birth of our savior. We are in advent now Lord and we must rely on the small candles we light to bring us hope as we prepare for your Word. 

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was god. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness does not overcome it." -John 1:1-5

Amen