On Guns and Their Control ~ Closing Thoughts

Greetings Dear Reader,

Reading, writing, and listening to your thoughts on this has taught me a great deal Dear Reader.   Remember that I am not a violent person.  Still I am also aware that we live in a violent world.  I have dear friends along the entire spectrum of this discussion.  I love and respect them all.

I think the deepest lesson I have learned is that we are all far too afraid.  We fear what might happen so we do things.  We fear shootings so we want to limit guns.  We fear loss of freedom so we wish to be armed.  We have become a society driven by what we fear.

I wrote quite a few years ago about how I think that all wrong that we do is attached to our fear in some way.  We are afraid so we do things that are wrong to shield ourselves from what we fear.  We let fear guide and control us. 

So how can I be a person that does not live in fear?  First, I need to understand what destroys or removes fear.  There is an answer for this.  “Perfect love casts out fear.”  Since I am required to love everyone, if I am perfecting that love then my fear will be cast out by it.  I realize that this sounds puerile and simple.  That does not make it untrue. 

I know that a thousand situational arguments leap to mind of what might happen.  I am required to live beyond those thoughts.  We all are.  We cannot find peace and build a better tomorrow if our reactions are based on what we fear.  We cannot build a healthy world based on fear, lacking love. 

I am not allowed to harm anyone.  I am also not allowed to tell others how to live.  I can live out an example.  I can show you love and kindness when we are together no matter how I think or feel.  I cannot stop someone intent on evil.  I cannot control anything no matter how much I believe I can.  I can follow Christ with all my heart and work toward justice and peace for others.  I can do whatever it takes to show love for others.

This has been hard for me.  I hate it when any human is harmed by another.  There is so much discord and hatred in the world.  As I move on to other things the conclusion for me is the same.  No laws or freedoms will solve the problems we have until we admit that we are the problem.  We need a daily overhaul of our thinking.  Thank you for your company and spirited debate Dear Reader.  As always it is precious to me and teaches me much.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

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On Guns and Their Control ~ Which Way Are You Going???

Greetings Dear Reader,

My writing yesterday triggered an energetic discussion for a friend of mine (pun intended).  Some of his dear friends asked many questions about the question at hand.  I cannot long labor on this topic as it pains me to do so.  Still my friend deserves and honest and humble response. 

These are the same gun

The question surrounding this one gun, the AR-15 was a simple one.  Walk me through the steps that would be taken were the gun banned today.  How would we guarantee that this action would prevent an individual from staging another school shooting with one?  The answer is it will not.  Here are just a few reasons why:

• Of the guns sold in the last two years 1 in 5 is an AR-15 style gun.
• There are numerous ways to acquire the parts and build your own.
• With over 400 MILLION guns in the hands of citizens we have no way of knowing how many are AR-15’s and who has them (even if we got all the registered ones).
• You can buy a kit to 3D print your own AR-15.
• You can still buy the Ruger Mini 14 which is the same gun just not scary looking (thank you Kevin).
• A ban will not do anything to stop someone who is intent on using one to kill people.
• Just the threat of a ban has spiked sales over the last two years and driven many sales underground. 

This, however, is not the point.  The point is that no matter what we limit in terms of availability, it will not change the hearts and minds of humans.  My friend Anne said very clearly that she is for regulation and nothing will change her mind.  That is her choice and she has a constitutional right to that opinion.  When has regulation ever prevented someone from breaking the law?

No matter which side of this discussion you land on, the problem is our failure to love each other.  We cannot salve our own conscience by simply banning this one gun.  We would be lying to ourselves.  A band-aid will not stop the hemorrhage of hate that flows through our culture.  Here are some practical things that can be done to lessen the violence.  Prepare to have your toes trampled a bit.

• Conservatives need to take responsibility that the other side is right that we do not do enough to care for each other’s needs.  They foster hatred by not treating EVERYONE with love and compassion.
• Liberals need to accept that their tolerance does not extend to those who disagree with them on their hot issues.  They need to accept that they foster hatred by treating those who disagree with them as “a basket of deplorables.”
• Everyone needs to take a step back a realize that if it does not lead to kindness and compassion for others it is likely not a good idea. 
• Eventually every great society weakens and falls to an enemy.  We all need to accept that if the enemy is at the gates we will be glad for the ones who are armed and prepared to defend us.
• Every culture that turns on itself decays and dies.  Until we remember to be united as a nation and work our issues out civilly we will continue to die on the vine.

The truth for me is that I hate every form of taking a human life; full stop.  The reality is that we do it every day and only scream about it when we do not like the method or the type of victim.  As I have thought through this all week the answer keeps coming up the same.  Every one of us needs to realize that we can all do better at the “love thy neighbor” stuff.  Until we get serious about that no amount of rhetoric about guns is going to reach those who fear what will happen if they give up their guns.  Until we get serious about it no amount of talk about civil liberties will calm those who see gun owners as self-centered and selfish; only caring about their needs. 

We all stand around guilty of the same hypocrisy.  We are all saying, “Let him live in freedom, if he lives like me.”  That is not love or kindness.  That is vanity, pride, and arrogance.  No side of the argument is innocent of this.  I can do better at it.  I hope this makes my position clearer, Dear Reader.  If I stepped on your toes I apologize and am willing to wash your feet.

Which Way are You Goin’ – Jim Croce

Which way are you going, which side will you be on

Will you stand and watch while, all the seeds of hate are sown

Will you stand with those who say, let his will be done

One hand on the bible

One hand on the gun

One hand on the bible

One hand on the gun

Which way are you looking, is it hard to see

Do you say what’s wrong for him, is not wrong for me

You walk the streets, righteousness but you refuse to understand

You say you love the baby

Then you crucify the man

You say you love the baby

Then you crucify the man

Every day, things are changing,

Words once honored turned to lies

People wondering, can you blame them

It’s too far to run, and too late to hide

Now you turn your back on, all the things that you used to preach

Now its let him live in freedom, if he lives like me

Well you light has changed, confusion rains, what have you become

All your olive branches turned to spears

When your flowers turned to guns

Your olive branches turned to spears

When your flowers turned to guns

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

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On Guns and Their Control ~ Data and Feelings

Greetings Dear Reader,

Frist let me express a feeling.  I feel that anyone who blames victims who are innocently killed needs to spend a great deal of time with a therapist.  I promise that my heart is broken over the loss of life in any shooting.  It is always wrong. 

Now a little bit of data.  I keep getting this idea that some in our society think that gun violence is somehow a predominant cause of unnecessary death in our culture.  Although I think that shootings must be stopped I do not think that taking away guns is the answer.  The logic of prohibition does not work and we do not apply it equally.

Here is some data with the source links for us to consider:

Car Related Deaths Per Year:  1,300,000

Abortion Deaths Per Year:  600,000

Cigarette Smoking Deaths Per Year:  480,000

Alcohol Related Deaths Per Year: 88,000

Drug Related Deaths Per Year: 64,000

Gun Homicides Per Year:  14,000

If we replaced any of the data in the rhetoric for outlawing guns with the “object” of the causes for other deaths, it would not be logical or we would object.  Let us begin with drugs.  We have outlawed the dangerous ones everywhere.  There are still 64,000 drug deaths per year.  We tried outlawing alcohol and it resulted in more crime and violence. 

We know that cigarettes kill people but they are still legal.  We have cities where there are laws that tax soda but you can still smoke cigarettes. You can get a product that kills 34 times more people a year than guns at any servo in the country. 

Then there is the data that seems completely insane to me.  46 x more abortions of innocent children are committed each year than gun homicides total.  They are both wrong but so is our perspective.  You would deny someone the right to own a gun because of what MIGHT happen.  You demand murder of the unborn on demand when death always occurs.  It troubles ne greatly that people will demand the right to murder the innocent while wishing to limit the rights of others to own an object.  Something is very wrong with this thinking. 

Do not think for a moment that I excuse or consider gun violence against humans acceptable.  I would posit that in a culture where we have devalued the life of the most innocent in our world we should not be surprised when madmen kill children.  The hypocrisy seems obvious to me.

If we follow the logic of denying someone something because of what he or she might do with it we are in trouble.  Does any of this sound reasonable:  People who consume alcohol to excess might drive drunk so we should not allow them cars even before their first DUI.  People who smoke cigarettes are going to become a burden on the medical communities so we should deny them healthcare.  People who speed might cause a life ending accident so we should deny them cars. 

We have a problem much deeper than who can and cannot own a gun.  We value what we want over life.  We demand our “rights” over the love and compassion we owe each other.  It is wrong to deny someone something because of what someone else did.  It is also wrong to have double standards on who can and cannot kill others at will.  We all need to realize that the problem is us.  It keeps coming down to that Dear Reader.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

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On Guns and Their Control ~ The Nature of Humans

Greetings Dear Reader,

In the opening scene of Star Trek Five: The Final Frontier (arguably the worst of the Star Trek movies), we find ourselves witnessing events on Nimbus III, The Planet of Galactic Peace.  On a planet devoted to peace guns are not allowed. 

This has not prevented the locals from designing and building weapons.  They have compressed air rifles that shoot stones.  The Federation ambassador on the planet states, “Our new age died a quick death. The settlers we conned into coming here were the dregs of society.  They soon began fighting amongst themselves.  When we forbade them weapons they soon began to fashion their own.”

In the popular game, Skyrim war is called the “Season Unending”.  We have been killing each other for all of recorded history.  The progression of our ability to do this is perhaps one of the most significant and tragic demonstrations of our creativity.  We become continuously better at creating ways to destroy each other.  Our entertainment is filled with violence.  We make sport of killing in virtual worlds.  We are surprised, however, when real people pick up real guns and attack the innocent. 

In the same Star Trek movie Dr. McCoy states that “Human life is far too precious to risk on crazy stunts” when Kirk almost kills himself trying to free ascend El Capitan.  I submit that we have lost the understanding of just how precious every life is.  I will not delve into this too deeply but it is necessary for us to regain the value of life before we will stop taking it from others. 

Currently we ignore killing on a mass scale when it is far enough away.  We tolerate injustice in other countries to save on petrol and obtain cheap consumer products.  We value life until it truly inconveniences us to do so.  Yet, we say it is too much when it is a man with a gun in a school.  I submit that it is too much when it is a child in the womb, a homeless veteran sleeping in the cold, or refugee in another country where we barter aid for power. 

Until we face that our disregard for life is a significant part of our poorer selves, taking away the guns will not stop the deaths.  I am not in favor of weapons designed to kill humans at any level.  It is not what we are designed to be doing.  We have, however, built violence toward each other into our nature.  We fail to love each other as we are supposed to love.

I used to be a very violent and angry person.  It is only through faith and following Christ that I have found that I no longer need these things.  I still struggle with the angry selfish part of my nature.  I suppose I will all my life.  I cannot commit violence and claim to love others.  It seems once again Dear Reader that we are what needs to change.  We are what needs to be different. 

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

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On Guns and Their Control ~ Thoughts and Prayers

Greetings Dear Reader,

My Sons and I used to regularly play paintball in a private wood.  We would spend an afternoon hunting each other and then cool off in the land owner’s pool.  One particular day my eldest Son would often be about to shoot me and I would somehow still get the upper hand.  I had always made it a practice to remind my children that I loved them whenever I would win at a game.  After shooting my Son for the fifth time in one day I called out, “Hey Son…”

He responded with a very frustrated, “I know dad, you love me.”

One of the things that saddens me is when things that I take seriously are mocked by those who do not understand or do not agree.  I do not mock anyone who believes differently than I believe.  It is not only unkind but it is wrong. 

I noticed that in social media there is mockery of the expression of thoughts and prayers.  The gist of the meme is that our thoughts and prayers are useless.  I will never agree that praying for others when they are in crisis is useless.  I will agree that if someone is in crisis and I only express that I am praying or worse “thinking about them” it can be insulting. 

It is like walking by a homeless person in winter and wishing them to be warm and well fed.  Jesus’ brother James points out that doing this is useless: “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?  In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”

It is wrong to simply tell others that you wish them well and do nothing.  I am not sure what should be done but until we find a way to stop the violence we need to shut up with our epithets.  I do not mean that we should not pray.  I mean that we should not talk about it publicly. 

Jesus makes it clear that prayer should be private: “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”  

If we really want to make a difference we need to put action with our prayer.  If you follow Christ then you know you are required to love your enemies.  How is killing anyone showing love?  I am not saying there is no need or use for a gun.  I am saying that guns designed for hunting humans violate the premise of loving our enemy. 

The alignment of the two issues, our lack of love for our enemies and expressing our “thoughts and prayers” without doing things that make a difference have caused mockery of the genuine expression of our faith.  There will always be those who mock God and us for believing.  We cannot change this. 

What I can do is assure that any expression of my faith is accompanied by action.  I must pray privately for those in need and in pain.  I must also work for new ways to show love to everyone including those who hate me.  If I fail to put action with my faith it will be useless and I will deserve the mockery.  Once again, Dear Reader, it seems that the problem is not the gun.  It is us.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

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On Guns and Their Control ~ A Gun Tale

Greetings Dear Reader,

If you read my writings regularly you know that I grew up in Georgia.  I am proud of most of my southern heritage.  We are not the ignorant sloths that we are sometimes depicted as.  It is also true that stereotypes spring from something.

When I was a boy my Grandfather, a retired police officer, taught me to shoot.  He taught me how to respect and handle guns.  I had to learn to clean and store them before I ever learned to load and shoot.  There were rules and I knew to obey them.  I practiced for hours shooting clothes pins from a wire with my BB gun.  I graduated to a .22 when I could hit 22 clothes pins from twenty yards away without breaking any of them.  The trick was to hit them at the bottom so that they would spin around the wire. 

After a summer of practice and hard work I was taken hunting.  I used a .410/.22 Savage.  Later in the fall I graduated to a bolt action .410 with a five-round capacity and a .22 semi-automatic which held ten 22-long rounds.  After the day’s hunting, if I had obeyed all of the gun rules I was allowed to fire my Grandfather’s 30/30 Winchester and his 20-gauge shotgun at the targets behind the farm house.

I was seven years old.  That same year I took shooting classes in my elementary school.  I also learned to shoot a bow and how to hunt with one.  There really were gun racks in pickup trucks and people did hunt before and after school.  My story of learning and shooting is not an uncommon one. 

There were not school shootings.  We were somehow different.  I am not saying that there is not a problem to be addressed.  I will not, however, blame the presence of guns.  It does not scan.  We can rant and rave all we want about the presence of guns being the problem but the truth is that this is not the problem. 

If we do not deal with the truth then nothing will get solved.  We need to remember how to teach discipline and respect to our children.  We must embrace the idea the we have changed as a society in some ways that are not good.

I must deal in truth not conjecture.  The truth is that we have lost a level of respect for each other, for authority, and for life.  I am not sure what the answer is but removing the medium of our expression of our own failings is never the problem.  Prohibition does not stop a thing from existing.  It does drive that thing into the shadows where it becomes aligned with other problems. 

Until we realize that the problem of violence is in us we will not change.  Until we embrace that we do not treat each other the way we should things will only get worse.  I long for the day when no one causes harm to another human.  That is the problem that exists daily whether there are guns present or not.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

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On Guns and Their Control ~ Opening Thoughts

Greetings Dear Reader,

I hesitate to write about this.  It is, however, a social issue that requires my evaluation.  I must know what I think and be prepared to express that thought with conviction, love, and kindness.  I do not at the moment know if this will be a single post or a series of musings.

I do know that guns have been an issue in my life since I was a small boy.  This perhaps requires a tale or two and, therefore, it may be that I need to spend some time on this set of thoughts and questions.

When it came up with the Crema Counsel this past week I could tell that there are very strong feelings in the hearts and minds of my friends who sit on said counsel.  I thought to stay away from the issue.  I cannot do this and remain honest in my search for ways to be more faithful in my following.

I suppose I will ask you to venture with me Dear Reader as I attempt to navigate reasonably that which both sides of the discussion refuse to consider with good reason.   I will not entertain emotional, pejorative, or situational thoughts.  These are neither productive or conducive. 

I will not attack anyone nor will I reject anyone just because they disagree with me.  I will address what I think is true whether I like it or not.  If I tread on your toes, I apologize in advance.  Please walk with me so that I have someone to show me what I miss.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

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