Don’t Blame the Gun

An alternative view of Violence in American Society

In the summer of 2015, a young 20-something man we will call “Jamaal” got drunk, stole a car and drove into a festival crowd killing six people and injuring about three dozen more. He then fled the car and ran from the scene. Police at the festival gave chase. In the process of the chase the closest officer fired two warning shots. The first shot embedded itself harmlessly in a nearby building; the second unfortunately struck a window shattering the glass before lodging in a filing cabinet. One shard of that glass fell to street level where it caused severe lacerations in a young lady’s arm.

I open with this story because it was the proceeding arguments in court that got my attention.

The young lady was billed for the emergency care she received. She thought that was not appropriate since she was an innocent pedestrian, so she retained a lawyer. That lawyer sued the city blaming the officer’s gun for her injuries, although no bullet ever struck his client. The city responded to the suit by saying since the bullet never struck her, they were not liable for her injuries; and she should be suing the building owner because it was the falling glass that caused her injuries.

In follow up testimony the building owner’s attorney argued that it was not their liability because they had installed shatterproof glass to meet city and state code, so if there was any liability it should be with the glassmaker, since the glass they purchased was supposed to explode into beaded pellets that would not injure people. The window maker’s lawyer responded that they did indeed agree that the young lady should be compensated for her injuries, but that she should have sued Jamaal for causing the chase that caused the shot to be fired, that caused their window to fail and injure her.

Now to the truly amazing argument: Jamaal’s lawyer said, it was not his client’s fault that the lady was injured. It was actually the car’s fault. If it had not been so easy to get into that car and steal it, his client would not have been in that neighborhood and the young lady would not have been injured!

This led a local alternative newspaper to ask the following question: “Should there be a law against leaving operable cars unoccupied in public areas?”

This got me thinking.

Does that mean I can’t drive my car to the local hospital to do visitations unless I have someone ride with me to sit in the car while I am inside to make sure it does not get stolen?

Now I am not trying to make light of the violence in many forms that impacts the world around us.

The more I thought about this, the more I realized that we are looking at the problem of violence backwards. God never called me to go and evangelize stuff; but to be a fisher of mankind!

And before I go further, I have to admit that I am on just about all the sides of the gun argument. I own more than one long gun for recreation. As a veteran, I am trained in the use and maintenance of firearms. At one time I was an NRA certified firearms instructor for rifle, shotgun, and hunter safety. I also am an ardent supporter of the common person/citizen being able to own firearms and ammunition if they so desire. BUT I also think that the average person being able to purchase military grade weaponry is just stupid and dangerous. I cannot think of a single situation where the average resident of the US would need to own an AK, Uzi, or machine pistol to protect his or her home or person. I would argue that we have plenty of laws in this country about gun ownership and gun transactions to control the flow of firearms, but they are not consistently enforced. On the flip side of that- I do not think that the criminal element really cares about which laws they are breaking.

If we intend to make significant progress in reducing and eliminating the violence that infects our society we need to stop focusing on stuff (like guns or cars) and get back to focusing on hearts, minds and souls as Christ intended.

After all… it is a Biblical Command: In The 10 Commandments it is pretty clear when God says: “You shall Not Kill”. Not much grey area there.

Additionally God, in the Old Testament, expected believers to care for and protect the people around them, even visiting strangers. (See Genesis 19 for an extreme example.) And He taught His people to value life. (See Jeremiah 7:1-7 for direct instructions on behavior.) Jesus reinforced these values in the New Testament including restating the 10 Commandments. He also gave explanation to where the behavior and desire comes from. (See Matthew 15:15-20) The Apostle Paul outlines the choice for living a Godly life that values all life around you and living in the ways of wicked culture in the 1st chapter of his letter to the Romans.

God taught our forefathers that: If we will train up the children properly, they will not depart from that training later in life (Proverbs 22). In 1 Samuel 3, we find an indication of what happens when we as parents and church family fail to give young people a firm grounding in values and faith… the results look an awful lot like what we are dealing with today.

Before we call for more laws against stuff, we (as churches and Christians) need to take a hard look at what we are doing to reach and help those who are most likely to fall into the trap of thinking that violence is the only answer. Whether that violence is against themselves (injury or suicide) or others around them, we need to be able to step in and help prevent those acts of desperation by providing intervention on many levels on a regular basis.

How are we interacting with those who have mental health issues, have been abused, live in broken families, have addictions, have been abandoned or orphaned, or have lost all hope?

I know what you are going to say: “we can’t save everyone” and “We don’t have the resources to do all of that.” Your right. But God can! If we don’t get out there and get into their world, we are keeping Him from doing what only he can do. Jesus called us to serve those who are need. Have you noticed in His ministry, that Jesus never waited for them to come meet Him at the Synagogue? He went out to the people and met them where they were at.

Are we doing that? Are we in the schools, on the playgrounds, in the parks, soup kitchens, shelters, jails, and community centers in our communities? Are we sharing love, hope, and Christ with all those we encounter?

Is there more you should be doing? Why aren’t you?

Look around! There is a need that you and your church community could meet! There are programs already helping, could you volunteer to help them? These “unwanted, unseen” people are God’s children, too. Let us change the world – one person at a time – instead of blaming the things (guns and cars) for what people do with them.