By Judith Victoria Hensley

Plain Thoughts

Watching the evening news is the fastest way to get depressed. The world we live in is a very troubled place. This week’s news was full of hurricane damage, mass shootings, politically biased reporting, loss of the Amazon Rain Forest, and loss of life.

Trying to blame guns as the source of evil that causes mass murders is exactly like saying it’s the Amazon Rain Forest’s fault for catching on fire. Or it’s the Bahama’s fault for sustaining such massive storm damage. It is way past time to put things in perspective where gun control is concerned.

Does any individual citizen need a machine gun? Do they need an assault weapon to carry around with them? Do common people in everyday situations need short range missile launchers? The answers are No! No! and No! There should be reasonable limitations.

Was it the presence of guillotines that was responsible for all the beheadings in medieval Europe? Would these people not have died if there had been no sharp blades produced?

How about rope? Would there have been no mass executions in Brittain in the Middle Ages if there was no rope to hang the accused?

What about Auschwitz? Would there have been no Jewish people slaughtered if there had been no massive ovens to massacre hundreds at a time?

Neither ovens, rope, blades, or guns are weapons that are evil in themselves. They are innate objects. It is the individual(s) behind the weapon that creates the problem. It is the society behind the law that allows convicted mass murderers to keep their own lives when they have taken and destroyed so many others.

Tighter gun control laws is not a solution that will keep people from evil intent on finding a way to carry out the evil and darkness, motivated by hatred that lives in the individual’s heart.

Wikipedia has this to say about gun laws in the United States: “In the United States, access to guns is controlled by law under a number of federal statutes. These laws regulate the manufacture, trade, possession, transfer, record keeping, transport, and destruction of firearms, ammunition, and firearms accessories. They are enforced by state agencies and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). In addition to federal gun laws, all state governments and some local governments have their own laws that regulate firearms. The right to keep and bear arms is protected by the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution.”

According to a Bing search on the internet, ““Gun Laws of America is 384 pages of just the federal statutes that regulate guns—more than 88,000 words. Additionally, the associated federal regulations interpreting these laws are even larger. … It is estimated that there are between 22,000 and 30,000 gun laws on the books in America. Those laws include restrictions on possession, carry, distribution, storage, transfer, manufacture, sale, ownership, importation, use and more.”

It seems to me that more gun control laws are not going to make us safe from ruthless or unstable people with guns. Are the laws which already exist faithfully implemented?

The last time I clicked a “like” on Facebook post regarding legally carrying weapons, I got a very upsetting private message from someone in Canada about it. First of all, she accused me as a Christian for taking a side on the issue and wondered how could I do such a thing.

I hope I never in my lifetime have to use a weapon for anything besides target practice. But I have my Concealed to Carry License and I know how to shoot if my life or the life of a loved one(s) depended on it. I am a peaceful person, but I’m not stupid enough to believe that the political agenda of disarming the American public is going to make the United States a safer place.

It all the guns were taken away from honest, law abiding, peace loving citizens, there would be plenty of weapons left in hiding by those who were not. Now there’s something to think about.