{"id":89638,"date":"2023-01-28T09:36:36","date_gmt":"2023-01-28T15:36:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=89638"},"modified":"2023-01-28T09:36:36","modified_gmt":"2023-01-28T15:36:36","slug":"89638","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=89638","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

Guns Don\u2019t Kill People . . . People Kill People<\/a><\/p>\n

Three recent mass shooting incidents in California have \u201cgun violence\u201d in the news again.\u00a0 And most assuredly loud calls for banning guns will also be heard.<\/p>\n

Tragedies like\u00a0these three incidents<\/a> make me think about a line from the 1953 film \u201cShane.\u201d In the movie the lead character Shane famously remarks to Marian Starrett, \u2018A gun is just a tool, Marian.\u00a0 It\u2019s no better or worse than the man using it.\u2019<\/p>\n

While this is true, it\u2019s only true up to a point.\u00a0 Guns are tools but they are not ordinary tools.\u00a0 They were invented as weapons of war.\u00a0 But they do \u00a0serve necessary and useful purposes as well.\u00a0 Guns are used for hunting and other sport. They are also used for self-defense.<\/p>\n

Guns<\/strong><\/h5>\n

A number of television shows depict the reliance people here in the U.S. \u00a0have on hunting as a means of providing food.\u00a0 \u00a0The biathlon, in the Winter Olympics, and target and skeet shooting (clay pigeon shooting), are also \u00a0popular sports among gun enthusiasts.\u00a0 And as the Heritage Foundation\u00a0points out:<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cAccording to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, almost every major study on defensive gun use has found that Americans use their firearms defensively between 500,000 and 3 million times each year.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Case in point: On July 17, 2022 a man lawfully carrying a firearm shot and killed an \u201can assailant suspected of fatally shooting three people and injuring two others in an Indiana mall on Sunday evening.\u201d\u00a0 The\u00a0incident<\/a>\u00a0took place at the Greenwood Park Mall just outside Indianapolis.\u00a0 Greenwood Police Chief Jim Ison called the man a \u201chero.\u201d<\/p>\n

And this brings us back to Shane\u2019s point \u2013 a gun is no better or worse than the man (or woman) using it.\u00a0 So let\u2019s not get emotional or delusional about guns.\u00a0 As the adage says, \u201cGuns don\u2019t kill people.\u00a0 People kill people.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A Stupid Statement?<\/strong><\/h5>\n
\n

Some however, belittle this adage.\u00a0 As Kermit Zarley tried to argue<\/a>\u00a0recently in a short (500+ words) opinion piece at\u00a0Patheos<\/em>,<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cSome Americans who oppose restrictive gun laws argue, \u201cGuns don\u2019t kill people; people kill people.\u201d That is stupid! OF COURSE guns don\u2019t kill people; but an individual owning a handgun or a rifle makes it a lot easier for that person to kill another human being. This is just common sense. In other words, it is much easier to kill someone with a firearm than it is with a knife, a spear, or a bow and arrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

His argument, however, is self-defeating.\u00a0 If the statement is correct, how is \u00a0it stupid? This is like saying the statement \u201cZebras are black and white\u201d is stupid. Granted, it is not a perspicacious statement, but it is also not a \u201cstupid\u201d statement.\u00a0 It is a plain statement of fact.<\/p>\n

It may be, however, that Zarely is simply caught up in \u201cthe narrative.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Deacon Mike Manno\u00a0wrote<\/a> recently \u201cNarrative\u201d is the secret word with the current crop of journalists today.\u201d\u00a0 He goes on to explain that the word comes from \u201ca true journalist, Sharyl Attkisson.\u201d\u00a0 It comes from her book \u201cSlander: How the News Media Taught Us to Love Censorship and Hate Journalism.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn her introduction,\u201d says Manno, \u201cshe opines, \u201cThe Narrative refers to a story line that influential people want told in order to define and narrow your views.\u201d<\/p>\n

And one of the Narratives today is that we need more laws.\u00a0 Specifically, we need more laws that control and restrict gun ownership.\u00a0 In fact, according to \u2018the narrative,\u2019 the government really should\u00a0repeal\/abolish the second amendment<\/a>\u00a0and prohibit gun ownership.<\/p>\n

But perhaps it is this narrative that is stupid.<\/p>\n

The 2nd<\/sup>\u00a0Amendment<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Our Founding Fathers were pretty intelligent guys.\u00a0 And their inclusion of the Second Amendment in the Bill of Rights was well thought out.<\/p>\n

One of the reasons a country, say for instance, China, is going to have second thoughts about invading the USA is that the US has a well-armed citizenry.\u00a0 One estimate\u00a0says<\/a>\u00a0that in the US there are 120 guns per 100 people.\u00a0 That statistic alone is a strong deterrent to a potential invader.<\/p>\n

\n

And as Chenyuan Snider pointed out in a recent article<\/a>, \u201cAs a person growing up in a socialist country ruled by a communist party, I know guns are necessary not just in dealing with criminals. Guns are indispensable if we want to live freely as \u201cwe the people.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cBefore the Chinese Communist Party came to power in 1949, ordinary Chinese had the right to own guns. When the Japanese invaded China, many rich citizens lent their weapons to non-government organizations to form citizens militias to fight the Japanese. But as soon as the CCP took power, no one was allowed to own a gun.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the anti-gun crowd does have a valid concern.\u00a0 According to the\u00a0Gun Violence Archive<\/a>\u00a0website, there were\u00a0647 mass shooting<\/a>\u00a0incidents in the U.S, in 2022.<\/p>\n

The website classifies a mass shooting as \u201cif four or more people are shot or killed in a single incident, not including the shooter.\u201d\u00a0 So if four people are injured in an incident, but no one is killed, the incident is a mass shooting.\u00a0 These incidents can be anything from gang-related shootings to domestic violence incidents.<\/p>\n

Society needs to figure out how to put an end to senseless killings.<\/p>\n

Infuriating<\/strong><\/h5>\n

What is especially infuriating about \u2018the narrative,\u2019 however, is that it is being pushed largely by the same people who say abortion should be legal.\u00a0 Yet the number of mass shootings in 2022 pales in comparison to the number of murdered babies.<\/p>\n

According to the\u00a0Guttmacher Institute<\/a>, \u201cIn 2020, there were 930,160 abortions in the United States, an 8% increase from 862,320 abortions in 2017.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clearly the tools used by abortionists are far, far more deadly than guns. For that matter, 42,915 lives were lost as a result of\u00a0traffic accidents<\/a>\u00a0in 2021.\u00a0 Perhaps we should go back to the horse and buggy.<\/p>\n

The pro-abortion\/anti-gun folks also say that being pro-life should mean being against guns.\u00a0 But this is a fallacious argument.\u00a0 As David G. Bonagura, Jr.\u00a0wrote recently<\/a>, \u201c. . . there is no contradiction between being pro-life and supporting gun rights. \u201cPro-life\u201d does not mean \u201canti-gun.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is, however, a serious contradiction in arguing for abortion rights and against gun rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

More Laws?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

The shooting at a\u00a0Colorado Springs nightclub<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0July 4 Parade shooting<\/a>\u00a0in Highland Park, IL, in 2022, were certainly tragic, as are any and all shootings that take someone\u2019s life.\u00a0 Clearly, as CS writer Tom Collingwood\u00a0stated recently<\/a>, \u201cIf ever there was a message that our culture needs fixing, mass shootings serves us notice.\u201d<\/p>\n

The questions, of course, are just how to fix our culture to put an end to senseless killing.<\/p>\n

The anti-gun crowd says we need more gun laws.\u00a0 The USCCB\u00a0seems to agree<\/a>.\u00a0 \u201cWe support measures that control the sale and use of firearms and make them safer (especially efforts that prevent their unsupervised use by children or anyone other than the owner), and we reiterate our call for sensible regulation of handguns.\u201d<\/p>\n

But as anti-gun Chicago and California show, laws banning guns are ineffective.\u00a0 They are not the answer.<\/p>\n

Pope Francis, however, is not quite so clear on what he thinks should be done.\u00a0 Following the Robb Elementary School shooting incident in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24, 2022, the pontiff\u00a0said<\/a>, \u201cIt is time to say enough to the indiscriminate trafficking of weapons. Let us all work hard so that such tragedies can never happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Detroit Catholic<\/em>\u00a0reporter Cindy Wooden\u00a0interpreted<\/a>\u00a0the pope\u2019s words to mean we need to \u201cenact stricter laws on gun sales.\u201d\u00a0 But this could be an inaccurate interpretation.\u00a0 He could have meant \u201cC\u2019mon people, let\u2019s get serious and start enforcing existing laws to prevent such tragedies.\u201d\u00a0 As is all too common with Pope Francis, \u2018popesplaining<\/a>\u2019 is not that easy.<\/p>\n

Better People<\/strong><\/h5>\n

I would argue, however, as I have argued before, (here<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0here<\/a>, for instance) that we do not need more laws.\u00a0 We need better people.<\/p>\n

As Sean Fitzpatrick\u00a0wrote recently<\/a>\u00a0at Crisis Magazine, \u201cThe shedding of innocent blood in schools and other public places is ultimately rooted in a problem of family and education. It is not a failure of government, but a failure of culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

The\u00a0post-modern<\/a>, relativistic, secular progressives have been attacking Christianity for 60-plus years now. \u00a0First God and prayer were taken out of public school classrooms.\u00a0 Then pornography was called free speech.\u00a0 And then murdering babies was legalized.\u00a0 And it\u2019s been all downhill from there.<\/p>\n

Homosexuality is now a \u2018lifestyle choice\u2019 and the words \u2018marriage\u2019 and \u2018family\u2019 have been redefined.\u00a0 Men can be women and vice versa.\u00a0 The left still insists abortion is \u201chealthcare.\u201d \u00a0And, social unrest and violence seem to be ramping up.<\/p>\n

Still, the narrative continues.\u00a0 \u201cWe have to ban assault rifles!\u201d some scream.\u00a0 Except\u00a0assault rifles<\/a>\u00a0are only used by the military.\u00a0 They are already banned for use by ordinary citizens.\u00a0 A semi-automatic rifle is NOT an assault rifle.\u00a0 Next we\u2019ll have calls to ban the \u201csemiautomatic assault pistol<\/a>,\u201d but, again, semiautomatic does not equal \u201cassault.\u201d<\/p>\n

Collingwood concluded his essay with a statement with which I wholeheartedly agree.\u00a0 He wrote, \u201cWhile there is not a quick and easy fix, the place to start is a renewed trust in God, a renewed following of his commandments to love God and neighbor and a renewed evangelization that can eventually influence the culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why are We Here?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

As I wrote in one of the articles already linked to,<\/p>\n

\u201cMore people who are willing to forsake the things of the world and live their lives according to God\u2019s laws are what we need.\u00a0 We need people who are trying their darnedest to lead virtuous lives, who are trying to become saints.<\/p>\n

\u201cProgressive policies will not fix stupid, ignorance, or bigotry.\u00a0 And allowing progressive democrats to run our country will only take us further away from God.\u00a0 We need God back in our culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pope Francis and our bishops should stop looking to politicians to fix our problems (as should the rest of us).\u00a0 Instead they should do what Christ instructed His disciples to do in\u00a0Matthew 28:19-20<\/a>\u00a0\u2013<\/p>\n

\u201cGo, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.\u201d<\/p>\n

We are all called to be saints.\u00a0 What a wonderful world we would live in if everyone was trying to live a saintly life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Guns Don\u2019t Kill People . . . People Kill People Three recent mass shooting incidents in California have \u201cgun violence\u201d in the news again.\u00a0 And most assuredly loud calls for banning guns will also be heard. Tragedies like\u00a0these three incidents make me think about a line from the 1953 film \u201cShane.\u201d In the movie the … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,29,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rkba","category-safety","category-self-defense"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=89638"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89638\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89639,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89638\/revisions\/89639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=89638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=89638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=89638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}