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Gun violence and the “politicization” of dead children

Gun violence and the “politicization” of dead children

Last updated on: April 18, 2023 at 9:57 am by Kathryn Shihadah

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Gun violence and the “politicization” of dead children 2023-04-18T09:57:55-04:00 Kathryn Shihadah

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Gun rights politicians may never let go of their ideology – but we can change our minds. We are under no obligation to remain faithful to weapons of our destruction.

A birthday party massacre over the weekend in Dadeville, Alabama claimed the lives of 4 (3 of them teenagers) and injured 32 – (15 of them teens). We shrug while families grieve.

12,487 Americans have died of gunshot wounds so far in 2023 – more than half of them suicides. Collateral damage associated with our right to bear arms.

So far in 2023, there have been over 160 mass shootings. Sounds about right.

gun violence "gun" by Gideon Tsang is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

“gun” by Gideon Tsang is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

The murder of 3 children and 3 adults inside a Christian school in Nashville was not horrific enough to change our minds. That was the 17th school shooting in the US this year – already more than in any entire year from 2000 to 2017.

Following the Nashville incident, some of our pro-gun politicians commented, and their words are instructive.

By their words (about gun violence) you shall know them

Texas Senator Ted Cruz suggested we solve the gun violence problem by doubling the number of armed guards at schools.

Of course his recommendation would involve more guns, not less. Cruz is the single biggest recipient of NRA campaign funds. His priority is to keep the gun lobby happy, not to keep children alive. (Last year, Cruz suggested that school shootings could be prevented by having only one door in schools.)

Another NRA beneficiary, Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, commented,

The first thing in any kind of tragedy I do is, I pray. I pray for the victims, pray for their families.

I really get angry when I see people trying to politicize it for their own personal agenda.

Prayer is great, but it’s not going to stop another shooting. And politicians are supposed to politicize issues. That is literally their job. When our nation has a problem, you do something to fix it. Pray for the victims on your own time.

Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida was asked about the possibility of banning certain weapons. He responded,

If you’re going to talk about the AR-15 [weapon of choice in Nashville and many other shootings], you’re talking politics now. So, again, if we’re going to talk solutions, let’s talk solutions. Let’s not get into politics.

We can politicize anything from public urination to low-flush toilets and a million other topics– but guns that kill children? Let’s not go there.

Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee, the state where the school shooting took place, expressed no hope for ending gun violence – unless God steps in:

We’re not going to fix it. I don’t see any real role that we could do other than mess things up, honestly…I don’t think you’re going to stop the gun violence.

I think you’ve got to change people’s hearts. You know, as a Christian, as we talk about in the church — and I’ve said this many times — I think we really need a revival in this country.

Burchett doesn’t get much money from the gun lobby. Apparently his political incompetence when it comes to gun violence is genuine – or perhaps he is pandering to the NRA in hopes of more campaign contributions?

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Burchett had more to say:

We are a sick nation. We need to repent and, honestly, we need a revival. It’s made a lot of people mad that I’ve said that, but it really is — there’s no other answer for it…

Repenting of your sins and having some sort of reform in this country seems to me to be the way we’re going to have to turn this thing around because we have some very sick, evil people doing some very vile things…

I do believe revival is the answer, and I pray for it every day.

As long as politicians assume the only solution is intervention by God, they will wait and pray – and do nothing.

In fact, this mentality is probably why we will never experience revival, at least not any time soon.

Regular folks – millions of them – are so turned off by the stupidity of evangelical Christians like Burchett and Scalise and Cruz (and those who support them), that they are running away from God. No one is interested in the “revival” of a faith that worships guns and disgusting people.

Christians who support gun rights: you are not obligated to keep doing so. The NRA is giving you nothing, and you owe nothing to the politicians who are getting rich off of guns. How many more children’s lives are you willing to sacrifice for your unbridled Second Amendment?

Just get off the bandwagon already.

(If you are energized by challenges to the evangelical status quo like this, please subscribe to my newsletter! If you would like to comment on this post, please pop over to my Facebook page. All of my posts are there and open to constructive comment! I welcome your thoughts.)

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FEATURED IMAGE: “gun” by Gideon Tsang is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

About Kathryn Shihadah

ABOUT KATHRYN SHIHADAH I was raised as a conservative Christian, and was perfectly content to stay that way – until the day my stable, predictable world was rocked. A curtain was pulled back on conservative Christianity, and instead of ignoring the ugliness I saw, I confronted it. I began to ask questions I never thought I’d ask, and found answers I’d never expected. Old things began to fall away, and – behold! – the new me has come. What a gift to be a new, still-evolving creation. I found out that it’s better to look at the world through Progressive Lenses, with Grace-Colored Glasses. You can read more about the author here.

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