Crazies And Guns

We awaken to the news that two FBI agents have been killed in Florida while trying to serve a warrant. Three other agents were wounded and taken to the hospital. The warrant “was related to suspected possession of child pornography“. It is believed that the recipient of the warrant is dead by his own hand at the scene. If I were a cynical person, I would be happy that he saved the state the expense of a trial by judging himself, but that is taking the low road.

No information has been given about the weaponry of the purported pedophile. With the amount of carnage it sounds like a “welcome to my little friend” moment from the movie Scarface. From what we know now we have an individual that was upset that his perversion was about to be made public and chose what he believed to be a reasonable response in kind. If it turns out he took himself out, I’m ok with that. I do believe if suicide was his ultimate response though, he could have answered the “FBI we have a warrant” with “Just a minute” and gone in the back to end it all.

A Pew Research Study reports that “three-in-ten U.S. adults say they own a gun, and an additional 36% say that while they don’t own one now, they might be open to owning a gun in the future”. Of the people researched, “44% of U.S. adults say they personally know someone who has been shot, either accidentally or intentionally, and about a quarter (23%) say they or someone in their family have been threatened or intimidated by someone using a gun.” 

To be honest, the percentage of gun ownership was lower than I thought. The amount of people who know someone who has been shot blows my mind. I’m assuming the survey wasn’t done in Compton. I can’t help but draw the easy conclusion that the proliferation of weapons in our society has something to do with the number of people shot. Occam’s razor anyone?

The fact that it’s harder to vote in some places than it is to buy a weapon should be concerning to all of us. Although I do know one political party that fears voters more than gun owners. They are the party that is sitting on HR8 the bill passed through congress in 2019 that is still waiting to be brought to the floor of the Senate. HR8 is a bipartisan bill that tries to put a few common sense laws in place to better protect those of us that haven’t been shot yet.

One of the common sense provisions of HR8 is to prevent people afflicted with a mental disease from owning a gun. People that society deems as possibly a “threat to themselves or others” shouldn’t be allowed gun ownership. If you’re a prominent Senator and admit that 1/3 of your party has slipped over the line, wouldn’t you want to deny them guns? Seems reasonable to me.

If we “did unto others” as we should, the perpetrator in this shooting would have gotten help, and both of the FBI agents would still be alive. Having the ability to get help combats shootings two ways. Hopefully counseling corrects or minimizes the problem. If not, the counseled is denied access to weapons through a strong Universal Background check program.

At some point we have to realize it’s cheaper in the long run to help the troubled, rather than arm them. That would be a “true conservative’s” position, and the Christian thing to do.