Guns Don't Kill People: Redux

After the horrors of this past weekend, and the typical liberal response in blaming guns and law abiding gun owners, I sat down to write a little piece about the fact that the issue is not guns, the issue is sin.  Then, I realized that I had already written that piece back in July after the Colorado incident.  So, why reinvent the wheel.  Let me just "reprint" that piece with a couple summary comments.  Here is the post from July:

Guns Don’t Kill People; Sin Kills People

It didn’t take long for liberals to start sounding the “gun’s are bad” drum after last weekend’s tragedy in Colorado.  One article blames the carnage on everyone from the NRA to every supporter of the 2^nd Amendment.   Of course, the media eats up that angle.

Never mind the fact that they completely ignored the “other”shooting in Aurora.  Back in April, in this same city, a man walked into a church, much like that movie theater, with the intent to wreak havoc.  In this case, however, an off duty police officer with a conceal carry gun took the shooter out after only one person was killed. 

It’s still a tragedy.  One senseless death is as tragic as twelve.  But that one armed citizen was able to keep the tragedy from escalating.  Had there been such an armed citizen in the theater that night, who knows how many might still be alive or even uninjured.  The media won’t report on that “other” shooting, however, since it doesn’t fit their anti-gun agenda.

Still, all of this misses the point.  We can argue all day about the “guns kill people” vs. “people kill people” slogans.  The truth is we have to look at the real culprit here.  It’s the same culprit that has been responsible for every death since the beginning of time:  sin.  Guns don’t kill people, sin kills people.

Go back to the beginning.  After the initial act of rebellion that brought sin into the world, the first act of sin recorded for us in anger which led to murder.  We are shown immediately that sin leads to death.  The first death we read about isn’t Adam slowly drifting away from old age, but Adam’s eldest son killing his own brother. 

 

Scripture doesn’t say how Cain killed Abel.  Could have been with a rock.  Could have been with a club.  Could have been with his own bare hands.  Personally, I think we weren’t told for a reason.  It kept the liberal media of the day from starting a “ban rocks” campaign; or “ban the club;” or maybe even “ban the hand,” that one has a nice poetic sound, doesn’t it? 

Whatever Cain used, I can guarantee that is wasn't a 9mm, or a .38, or a shotgun, or any other firearm.  Guns don’t kill people, any more than rocks kill people, or clubs, etc.  It’s not the instrument, folks. It’s the heart.  Sin kills people.

Sin is killing all of us, in fact.  Death exists because of sin.  Apart from sin, there would be no death.  Apart from sin, tragedies like the one in Colorado would be unheard of.  It’s time to stop blaming the instruments, stop looking at the externals and realize that the true problem is our sin nature.  And without addressing that sin nature, nothing will ever change.

Dr. Al Mohler from Southern Seminary had a wonderful response to this event.  He concluded in part by saying:

We are reminded that evil can be answered only by a cross. We must grieve with those who grieve. We must pray for Gospel churches in the Denver area who will be called upon for urgent ministry. We must pray for our nation and communities. And we must pray that God will guard ourselves from evil — especially our own evil. And we must point to the cross. What other answer can we give?

Indeed, what other answer can we give?  The answer isn’t passing more gun laws.  More gun laws merely disarm law abiding citizens and prevents them from defending themselves.  Criminals are criminals because they don’t follow the law; because they are sinners.  

Let’s instead address the real issue.  Sin is killing us.  We need to point people to the cross, because only there will we find a cure for sin, and thus a cure to the results of sin. 

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I still believe everything I wrote here, and I would simply reemphasize those last two thoughts:  

 

1.  Gun control is not the answer.  Time and again statistics show that having an armed citizenry lowers crime rates.  Criminals are less likely to attack a target where they know someone might be shooting back.  One concealed carry permit holder might have stopped this deranged man in Connecticut resulting in fewer casualties.  Disarm the people and criminals will have an even more free reign of terror.

2. Sin is still the culprit.  The Gospel is still the answer.  The Church in America needs to wake up and stop trying to entertain the masses and start preaching the Gospel.  One can argue that many are preaching the Truth and that American's hearts are just hardened.  There is some truth to that.  But there are also too many so-called churches who think there mission is to entertain and be hipster-cool, while the soul of the nation withers.  Jesus Christ is the only answer.  Changed hearts are the only answer.  Until then, sinful and selfish people will continue to do sinful and selfish things.  Preach Christ and Him Crucified!