The question of guns is upon nearly everyone’s mind these days, because five Policemen were murdered and seven others wounded on July 7th, 2016, in Dallas, TX. Like many questions, people are directing their attention in the wrong place! In order to bring a little common sense to the subject, think about following facts.
First, it is reported that 11,583 people are murdered each year; and this means that there are 32 murdered every day. Second, in 2013, 10,076 people died in drunk driving crashes, this means that 28 people died every day as a result of drunk drivers. Then, 290,000 were injured in drunk driving crashes each year. Therefore, we ask: Did the car driven by the drunk driver kill all these people? Do those who are demanding that we, the nation, give up our guns, also demand that they, the nation, give up their alcohol?
Facts are most interesting! According to the FBI annual crime statistics, the number of murders committed annually with hammers and clubs far outnumbers the number of murders committed with a rifle. Did the hammer or the club do the murdering? Should we pass laws against having hammers and clubs? This is not true with handguns, however! Here are a few facts you might find of interest: in 2012: 6,371 people were murdered with handguns; those murdered with knives or cutting instruments were 1,589; while 518 were murdered with hammer and clubs; and 678 were murdered with personal weapons, such as: hands, fists, feet, etc. You can see, if a person desires to murder another, a means to do so is not far away! Shall we pass laws against all these items used to murder another human being?
The great failure of our time is that we are not looking in the right place! We are looking at the instrument used to do the evil deed and not at the where the evil deed comes from! The answer has been before our face for thousands of years, but we still refuse to accept it! The wise man said it: “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life” (Pro. 4:23). Then, Jesus said: “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies” (Matt. 15:19). Then, to sum the whole thought, once more we turn to Solomon: “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: …” (Pro. 23:7). As has been said so many times before, It does not take a rocket scientist to add up these facts and get the correct answer! What one does outward is first in his heart/mind! When Solomon wrote: “as he thinketh in his heart, so is he;” he was simply saying that the inward man determines the actions of the outward! This means it is not the gun that murders another, but the man with an evil heart!
It will not stop the murderer from murdering to take away his gun; for murder is in his heart! If you take away his gun, he will just use a hammer, or his fists; but he will murder! You see, this is who he is, for he “thinketh murder in his heart” and a murderer he is! This means that those who desire to take away our guns are aiming in the wrong direction! They are only looking at what a murderer has in his hand at the time he murders, not at the fact he is a murderer in his heart! They have long ago thrown out as an ancient relic of the past, fit only for the garbage dump, the one thing that can change the heart: “the teaching of Christ!”
It starts with our young, while they are so innocent, and their minds are subject to being so easily influenced! Remove every reference of God from the class room! However, has it ever occurred to anyone to ask: “Are we better off as a nation without God?” Once more allow Solomon to answer: “Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people” (Pro. 14:34). Of course, many will not accept these words, so just look at the results as they are being lived out before our eyes! Here are what teachers say: “Behavior issues that interfere with teaching and learning have notably worsened, according to an astonishing 62 percent of teachers who have been teaching in the same school for five or more years (Primary Sources: America’s Teachers on the Teaching Profession). We measure our nation by our young, who will set the moral standards and values of tomorrow.
No, it is not the gun any more than it is the fists, that murders another. It is the evil in the heart/mind! It is the heart that must be changed, taking away all the guns will not stop the murders, it will only change the weapon used; but change the heart and the murders will stop!
Frank R. Williams