This past week, our country was pummeled by yet another senseless and horrific tragedy. In a Texas elementary school, 19 precious children and two adults were shot and killed. Even writing this is difficult because my heart aches and my mind reels with pain, thinking of the loved ones and friends of these precious victims. The shooter is dead, shot and killed by a brave off-duty border patrol officer. The special forces agent courageously rushed into the line of fire without backup and brought the mass murder to a halt.
The shooter was an 18-year-old male who had written his intentions in several private chats on social media before carrying out his monstrous deed. Nothing can replace the loss of human life. When children are victims, grief is intensified. However, it’s outrageous, unethical and corrupt for leftist politicians to exploit the victims by spewing propaganda all over the airwaves and social media, stating that gun control is the magic answer to the mass shooting problem in the United States.
Common sense, logic, critical thinking skills and reason would assume otherwise. The shooter in Texas used a pistol. In that particular state, you may purchase a handgun at age 18. So, the rumors about the attacker illegally possessing a firearm are not necessarily true. He could have bought the gun himself. Have you ever heard the saying that locked doors keep good men out, not bad ones? Trying to force good people to hand over their firearms is like believing that criminals won’t enter through a locked door. The bad guys will all still have guns. In fact, the bad guys will be the only ones who have guns. Think about that, for a minute.
If there’s gun control, should there be car control, too?
In recent years, several people have gotten behind the wheels of motor vehicles and intentionally driven through crowds of people. Many people were killed in each instance. The drivers knew what they were doing. They hit the gas pedal on purpose to run over as many pedestrians as they could. It’s unthinkable. It is terrifying. It’s tragic and senseless and devastating. The attackers intentionally and purposefully used cars to commit horrific crimes. As logical comparison to demonstrate the illogical suggestion that gun control will stop mass shootings and other lethal crimes, ask yourself if cars should be banned now.
The question isn’t intended to be facetious or sardonic. It is asked with sincerity. Should they immediately implement motor vehicle control? Who can own cars then? And, who will decide who can own cars? Many leftists have tried to shirk off this comparison by saying it’s irrelevant, but it’s not. In both situations, people used things that are legal to own. Also, in both types of situations, people chose to use those items as weapons of mass destruction. If those with a leftist political agenda believe that gun control is the answer to the first problem, why don’t they also believe that car control is the answer to the second problem?
Getting rid of guns does not get rid of murder
Murder has existed since the beginning of time. It’s horrible and wrong and sinful. And, it’s a crime. However, no gun control proposal (or laws that were sneaked into being without debate after the Sandy Hook tragedy, for instance) can put an end to murder. At most, if not all, schools in the United States, it is already illegal to have guns on the premises. In schools that have Trap Shooting teams, team members may not bring their shotguns onto school grounds, even if they have a Meet that day.
So, here you have a situation where there are already laws and “controls” in place. You cannot take guns onto school grounds. This shows that the problem is not the gun, it is a person’s illegal use of a gun. A better question to ask, instead of “Why are people still allowed to own guns?” is “How are people who are openly brandishing firearms getting into schools?” Nearly 100% of the mass shootings in this country have taken place at locations where it is illegal to have guns. Consider this: The bad guys still go to these places with guns, in spite of laws against it. Would it help if there were people in place at such locations who were armed and ready to defend? How, exactly, would more gun control supposedly help? No one on the left seems to be able to answer that question.
Usurping people’s freedom will not resolve the problem
According to this thorough and thought-provoking article, after the U.S. government banned assault weapons, the CDC stated that there was insufficient evidence to show that the firearms law prevents violence. No one who is mentally stable wants more innocent people to be murdered at their school desks. Their families will suffer grief for the rest of their lives. It is wrong, however, to use innocent victims to push political agenda, an agenda that would undermine the freedom of every citizen, protected under the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Giving up freedom does not save lives.