By Rob Morse
We are responsible for our actions. No one questions my responsibility if I’m negligent and hit you with my car. Are we also responsible for how someone feels? Does it injure you if I fly the US flag? How about if I own a gun or carry that gun in a place you find uncomfortable? We can pass laws that makes us feel better, but what should we do when these comfort-laws hurt people? Whose feelings take priority? It may seem unfair, but let me resort to facts for a minute.
Politicians do anything to win votes. They will pass any law that sounds good and makes us feel better. Politicians lie to us and say they’ve made things better even when they made things worse.
We’re frightened by the thought of a murderer coming to our church. Politicians passed laws saying guns aren’t allowed at church. We’re horrified that a murderer would come to our child’s school. Politicians passed laws saying law-abiding people can’t bring guns to school. We don’t want people to get drunk when they are carrying a gun, so politicians passed laws that disarm law abiding people when they go to a bar. Those laws let us feel better, but did those laws make us safer? You know the answer. You’ve seen the answer, and you remember how it feels.
Isaiah 5:20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
We passed a law so we could feel safe when we pray. In theory, our feel-good law stopped a criminal from bringing a gun into a church or a synagogue. In practice, murderers don’t obey plastic signs. In practice, the law disarmed the flock and the shepherds. We saw the horrible results last year at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. We saw the result this year at a synagogue in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. How did that feel?
In theory, our feel-good laws stopped a criminal from bringing guns into a bar. In practice, our feel-good law disarmed the designated driver. In practice, the gun-free-zone at the Borderline Bar and Grill in Thousand Oaks, California disarmed a half-dozen law enforcement officers who were at the bar when it was it was attacked. That law certainly didn’t work the way we wanted. Our laws made things worse rather than making them better. That feels awful. The solution isn’t to put up bigger plastic signs. The solution is to leave people free to protect themselves.
Sandy Hook, Connecticut
In theory, we’ve protected our schools with a school resource officer and a plastic sign that says no-guns-allowed. That fails too often. Murderers go to our school to kill our children. Our defense has to be where ever our children are. It feels uncomfortable for us to think of someone attacking our children, but ignoring the problem feels worse. The good news is that lots of teachers want to protect “their kids.” I know because I’ve met them and listened to them.
“Better a cruel truth than a comfortable delusion.”
Edward Abbey
It is uncomfortable to look at evil. We were so afraid of hurt feelings that we passed laws to make us feel better. We can blame our politicians for passing feel-good laws, but the people we elected were doing what we told them to do. We made a mistake and we got people killed. It would feel horrible to sit and let this happen again.
Fortunately, we have the power to fix it. Here is a link to call your elected representatives. Tell them how you feel about disarming the victims in gun-free-zones. You’ll feel better after you call.
From Slowfacts
