A Virtual Church

A rising toll

September 12, 2024

How many bodies of dead young people will it take for us to do something more about gun control? There have been 45 school shootings in America this year. At least two of them have involved high powered, lethal guns bought by parents who gave them to their children, one as a Christmas gift!
 
Algebra I is tough. Maybe young Colt knew he couldn’t cut it. He had shooting on his mind before the attack at Apalachee High School. There were signs that he was unstable, mentally ill, and likely angry at the turn of events in his life. His family was a wreck. He was a product of that disaster. 
 
There were three children in the family. Only Colt lived with his dad. The two younger siblings lived with their mother, who was a drug abuser and over-all mess. It’s just coming to the surface that she called the school the morning of the shooting, warning that something awful was going to happen. 
 
Colt had been on the school radar for prior concerns. No warning was heeded, and there seems to have been a lot of warning. Evidently there is no action that can be taken to slow somebody’s bad intent before it manifests into a shooting spree. Colt’s social media was full of ideas of shooting and murder. A sure sign that something is amiss. Yet with all the warnings, this shooter was not stopped before two teens and two teachers were killed, and nine others were wounded. 
 
The response to yet another shooting is along party lines, of course. JD Vance even said such shootings are a “fact of life.” If that is true, we are in a sad, sad place. Get more security in the buildings. Arm the teachers. This is what we hear from the gun-loving crowd. 
 
Responsible gun owners are OK with background checks and red flag laws. Hunting will not raise a red flag, unless you are hunting in first period Algebra. And despite what the gun lobby proponents say, high-powered lethal weapons, like the AR-15s used in this shooting and so many with high-capacity magazines need to be banned. These are military weapons intended to inflict major harm. The lunacy of wrapping one up in red paper and green bows as a Christmas gift for a 13-year-old is incredulous!
 
Some are lamenting the father’s arrest with two second-degree murder charges and multiple other charges that will likely land him in jail. The precedent of the conviction of James and Jennifer Crumbley, parents of Michigan school shooter, Ethan Crumbley, will almost ensure some level of conviction for Colin Gray. There is very little we can do about irresponsible parents making bad decisions and turning a blind eye to the trouble their young people are in. This is part of our societal sickness. 
 
Heeding warnings takes courage. We have to get involved in timely ways. Seems people avoid a lot of warnings about all kinds of things, from health to a presidential election. We must love having our heads in the sand. We are aloof and dismissive of things we see clearly, choosing to ignore hard realities. 
 
Things will not change in America until we open our eyes to see clear warnings and act in ways of prevention. Guns are at the top of what needs changing. Nobody is trying to get your hunting rifles or pistols you carry for protection. Weapons of war need to be taken off the market except for the military and I am willing to talk about how valuable war is. 
 
There have been 417 school shootings since Columbine. (Interesting that all we have to say is Columbine, or Parkland or Sandy Hook or Uvalde – they are all too familiar to us.) 500 young people have been killed in school. This is not even counting the shooting deaths in other venues. Las Vegas, Orlando, churches, mosques, clubs, you name it. We live in a free-range country. 
 
People get riled up when I talk about gun control. I am not queen of the world, but to me, this does not seem like a controversial issue. Lethal weapons do not need to be in homes where children have access to them. Period. 
 
The people who shout “Pro Life,” are the same ones who go to all lengths to protect an embryo’s “personhood.” They fight to punish those who don’t agree. The “Pro-Lifers” on the far right evidently do not include living, breathing human beings in their call to protect life. Too many children have died senselessly; their lives must not matter.
 
This rising toll of dead children is an American phenomenon. When Australia banned assault weapons, their crime rate went down. I don’t see the problem with such a ban. It all has to do with the human will gone awry.  
 
Lib Campbell is a retired Methodist pastor, retreat leader, columnist and host of the blogsite www.avirtualchurch.com. She can be contacted at libcam05@gmail.com