From Pulpit To Public Square

There are too many people, some Christians included, who think the best response to the recurring mass shootings in this country is “thoughts and prayers.” They are not talking about common sense gun laws that would keep military-style weapons off the streets of our towns and cities. All they will offer is “thoughts and prayers.”

It does not matter if the mass killing occurs in a Baptist church in Texas, a Sikh temple in Wisconsin, or a Jewish synagogue in Pennsylvania. The best some people can offer is thoughts and prayers.

We have more mass shootings in this country (four or more people shot in a single event) than we have had days of the week so far this year. We have seen mass shootings at grocery stores, elementary schools, shopping malls, concert venues, beauty parlors and nail salons, birthday parties, and inside people’s own homes. Every time this happens, those who have sold their souls to the leadership of the National Rifle Association or who have been bought and paid for by the gun industry never seem to offer anything but “thoughts and prayers.” When they finally stop thinking and praying, they talk about mental health as the core of the problem. For them, guns are not the problem. The problem is always mental health.

The problem with that argument is that mental health is not exclusively an American problem. There are people struggling with mental health issues all over the world. If the problem was simply a matter of mental health there would be mass shootings going on every day in countries all over the world.

Of course, there is no other country in the world with the level of gun violence we see every day in the United States. There is also no other country in the world where there are more guns than there are people in their national population.

The issue is not mental health. The real issue is guns. To be even more specific, the problem is that most mass shooters use an AR-15, a gun designed for use by soldiers on a battlefield.

I am a Christian pastor and I believe in the power of prayer. I also believe what is written in the biblical book of James 2:17 that says “faith without works is dead.” Prayer alone, without policy changes not only fails to comfort survivors of mass shootings, it also leaves the door open for future mass shooters to cause havoc in our society. A mentally ill person without an automatic weapon cannot kill ten people in ten seconds.?They cannot rip open human bodies and blow off human faces as happened last week in Allen, Texas and Uvalde, Texas.

“Thoughts and prayers” may be what so many of our political leaders talk about after each mass shooting. What they should do after all these mass shootings is vote for laws that require background checks, ban AR-15 type weapons, outlaw large capacity magazines that hold dozens of rounds of ammunition, and require lawful gun owners to have a license and undergo gun safety training.

If our political leaders are unwilling to enact gun laws that make our society safer then we the people should vote those cowardly politicians out of office. Do not complain about gun violence while reelecting politicians like Governor Greg Abbott of Texas. The future must be in our hands, and not in the hands of these “cowardly lions.”