For The Love Of Guns

We have grown numb to gun crime in America. A couple of days ago it was three students killed and eight wounded by a gunman on the Michigan State University campus. Just this morning, we awoke to another shooting at a shopping mall in El Paso, Texas. One killed. It was not far from a mass shooting at a Walmart not too long ago. Mass shootings are part of our everyday life. Add this to the barrage of gun violence in cities like Philadelphia. Local television and radio news here is just a litany of street shootings. You have to assume that people you encounter on the street, in a store, in a movie theater, in a park, just about anywhere could be carrying a gun legally or illegally. As much as we are outraged and offering thoughts and prayers to shattered families, American society continues to tolerate it, and in some places it’s just getting worse.

A bill the North Carolina house just passed would allow people with concealed carry permits to also openly carry guns while attending religious services where private or charter schools meet. This is already allowed in churches that don’t have schools attached. So this would give the churches with the schools equal protection of their right to arm themselves. There are exceptions. No guns would be permitted on campus during school hours or during extracurricular activities. One minister said he wouldn’t want someone to accidentally leave their gun behind and have some student pick it up. Churches can also post signs banning guns. That should make you feel good going into services. The bill passed the state house 77-43 with six Democrats joining Republicans. This should make it veto proof against Democratic Governor Roy Cooper who vetoed a similar bill in 2021. This is the state where a racist with a gun murdered nine black people at a prayer meeting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in June, 2015.

Not to be outdone, there’s Florida. A bill there, certain to become law, would allow people to carry concealed loaded weapons without a permit and not require any weapons training. It’s called the “Constitutional Carry” law. It’s supported by the Florida Sheriffs Association. President of the association Al Nienhuis said, “I think we can assume that our citizens are going to do the right thing when it comes to carrying and bearing arms.” Florida was the scene of two of the most horrifying mass shootings in history. In June, 2016, forty-nine people were killed and fifty-three wounded by a man with a gun at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. Less then two years later, in February, 2018 seventeen students were killed and seventeen wounded at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. Florida would be the 26th state to allow people to carry a concealed weapon without a permit.

Most polls show the majority of Americans favor more gun control, not less. But we are hostages to a gun culture that’s ingrained in our way of life. There is no other country like ours. As long as we elect people who hold the Second Amendment sacred and bow to the gun lobby, many of us will live in fear for the love of guns.