Let’s talk about the shooting that occurred at Umpqua Community College for a minute…

My heart is truly breaking for the families and friends of those involved.  Lives lost senselessly because of a troubled soul.  

With Umpqua Community College specifically, the problem in this instance was not firearms.  It was due to a hatred of God.  It was a heart thing.  And it was also a mental health thing, a complete disrespect for human life and a general disregard for all living creatures.

The shooter asked the first victim to state her faith.  No answer.  He shot the person.  The shooter asked the next victim to state their faith… they answered that they were a Christian, despite knowing the outcome.  He shot the person… and so on.

 

And then there’s Paris and San Bernardino… and other terrorist and non-terrorist acts and even threats around the world…

Don’t get me wrong – I’d love to sit around and deliberate who or what is to blame.  But one truth remains: firearms don’t load, take aim and fire at people on their own.  A live being is involved… a live being who is intent on ensuing pain on others.  The mind of that live being has got to be MESSED UP to take aim at another live being.  Period.  To want to senselessly take the life of another is a desire that comes straight from the depths of eternal damnation.

 

These killings simply CAN NOT be blamed on the firearms.  They can not.  A blanket law banning guns is simply not the answer.

Banning certain faiths or nationalities from entering our borders is not the answer.

 

The focus of our efforts should go towards the stigma associated with mental illness, the twisted viewpoint of human regard / religious freedoms, and so on.  These horrors have been brought on by a hatred toward all that is humane and righteous… a sick hatred runs through the veins of hurting, desperate, lost individuals who take others’ lives.  But it doesn’t have to stop there.  It just doesn’t… that twisted mentality is not what we were created for.  We were created to DO GOOD but the struggle against evil is real.  We have to work at it… and we have to pull others up when we see them falling off.  It’s a choice.  Plain and simple.  It’s a choice.

 

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.  Proverbs 4:23

Now I’m going to speak to the lost, if you happen to be reading here:  if you know you are at risk from acting out towards others… please talk about it.  Talk to somebody, anybody.  Pick up the phone and call someone.  Call me.  I will listen.  Find someone at a health clinic, a church, a mental health hotline … find someone to talk to.  

And if you know someone at risk don’t be afraid to step on their toes… stepping on a few toes might save dozens or hundreds or even thousands of lives.  

 

Now, for a little scholarly input:  A Study on Firearms, Crime and Gun Control