GUNS DON’T THINK. PEOPLE DO.

 

Photo by Kenny Luo on Unsplash

Do you ever go to the store

 or wash your hair 

or mow the lawn 

or give a gift 

without -first- thinking to do it? 

No. 

You say to yourself, “We need groceries.”

Or “Time to wash my hair.“

Or “The yard’s looking shaggy.”

Or “Next week is hubby's birthday.”

 

You first think it. Then you do it.

 

Ideas have consequences.

 

People think.

Inanimate objects cannot think.

 

The gun does not pick itself up, walk over to someone and say, “Here, go shoot a bunch of people.”

 

In a culture where children are brainwashed with the ideas that they are just a higher form of slime and that only the fittest deserve to live, why are we surprised when a man picks up an inanimate object and acts like an animal to make sure he lands at the top of the heap.

 

In a culture where pornography and other invitations to indulge one’s fantasies and lusts are pervasive, why are we surprised when a person uses an inanimate object to fulfill his desires.

 

In a culture where impatience is a virtue and pills are prescribed much too readily as a “fix” for every ailment, why are we surprised when a brainless piece of metal is used by a human-with-a-brain to quickly “take care of” what he perceives as problems.

 

In a culture where “if it feels good, do it” rules the day, why shouldn’t a man gun down whomever he pleases, if that’s what trips his trigger.

 

In a culture where Christianity is ridiculed in the media, sports, entertainment, business, and education avenues - (Christianity with its restraining ideals of “put others first,” “love your enemy,” “do good to them that mistreat you," & “love your neighbor,” yeh, all those offensive ideas), - why are we surprised when a gunman thinks only of himself? Or serves up vengeance?

 

In a culture where violence and gore are a mainstay of our entertainment, why are we surprised when someone lives it out in real life?

 

In a culture where babies are murdered pre-birth for any and every reason, why shouldn’t a shooter kill children and grown-ups at will?

 

Ideas have consequences.

 

First the thought, then the action.

 

Guns do not think. People do.

 

What have we as a culture promoted and permitted to lead to all these shootings?

 

Each shooter may seem to shoot randomly. But I see a pattern. A pattern indicating that these madmen mass killers are just following to a logical conclusion the ideas they were taught, either directly or by osmosis.

 

We have no one to blame but ourselves as a society when people live out - unrestrained - what we have permitted or promoted as influences.

 

Is it too late to stem the tide? I fear this is a growing trend, where the ideas taught to the last two or three generations will come to full fruition. The zombie apocalypse will look like a picnic in the park compared to what could be in store.

 

Ideas have consequences.

Thoughts, then actions.

Guns don’t think. People do.

 

What ideas are you and I as individuals promoting by our choices and lifestyles? Are we part of the problem? Are we part of the solution?

 

Think about it.