Yet another one, this last at Michigan State University. As of this writing, it appears that the shooter was not linked to the school.
And we still don’t have effective gun control laws.
What will it take?
‘A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a Free state, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed,’ says the Second Amendment in the Bill of Rights.
But I say to you that there’s no ‘well regulated Militia’ in this country. That the estimated 350 million plus guns in private hands are not necessary for the security of America and instead act against it. And that the right to bear Arms creates far more problems than it solves.
Therefore, the Second Amendment is toxic to the country as it permits the killings of thousands of innocent people every year.
On January 6th 2021, an assault on Capitol Hill in Washington DC took place.
Our sitting president at the time was an influential factor in such assault.
Where the hell was the ‘well regulated Militia’?
The intent of the calculated aggression was to overturn a legitimate election.
Where was the ‘well regulated Militia?’
Nowhere, because it doesn’t exist. It is not real and will not come to the assistance of any movement that threatens our political system because owning a gun is not enough.
In the face of a threat to our political system what is needed are educated minds, people with a commitment to the laws of this nation who have invested in cultivating their sense of civic duty to assist their brothers and sisters.
In the face of a threat to our nation, what will be needed is people to speak up whenever there is corruption in government, what is needed is the courage to protest and stand side by side against would be oppressors, so the pillars of our nation are not undermined and destroyed.
Gun owners and all those gun bearers throughout this land did nothing to stop the injustice of the Capitol assault as it unfolded, except perhaps scratch their heads in puzzlement.
But those same gun owners will fight to the end any attempted restriction on their right to buy guns. Regardless of whether the buyer has the integrity to handle a gun or the emotional makeup to show restraint.
The gun lobby is a drag on the development, political and economic maturation of this country.
It is not an asset but a detriment.
It keeps us from connecting with each other.
What it does do is help us hide from the call to civic duty to our fellow human beings.
The freedom to buy guns must be restricted because the deaths of innocent people at the hands of the misguided or confused, envious or angry, is a deep wound being inflicted to the essence of who we are.
Very often, at the heart of the motivation of the shooters, is a profound sense of envy at having fallen behind and not being part of our national project.
That task of building ties to our fellow citizens is essential. It cannot be left to government.
Defenders of gun laws need to ask themselves, which is more important, my duty to my brothers and sisters, or the right to own a gun that breeds isolation.
The price of liberty is measured in the courage to stand against injustice, whenever and wherever it happens.
The price of liberty is also measured in our ability to hold our pain, and not give it to others.
Oscar Valdes is the author of Letters to a Shooter (available on Amazon) and other self published books.
Oscar Valdes 