What The Media Won't Tell You About "Gun Violence."

As I begin this episode I must confess that I am at a loss for words. Tragedies like what happened in Orlando should never happen. Yet they persist, even though I do not recall this being a problem under Bush. Both sides of the isle seem to be pointing fingers at the wrong things. I heard on the radio someone saying that the LGBT community should reject the well-wishing from Christians, and that the LGBT community should stand with Blacks and Latinos against the Christians, because religious bigotry lead to this incident.  This, of course, was said in response to well-wishing from Donald Trump, promising to stand with the LGBT community against this sort of insanity.

This sort of division isn’t helped by the preacher I heard on the radio celebrating the death of fifty supposedly pedophiles.  This isn’t a Christian attitude. We recognize the reality of sin, but we reach out to those who are sinning with love because we care about them, and want good things for them. This sort of hate, on both sides, has America locked in a war with each other, which allows the real enemy to slip in and attack. We are so busy fighting each other we were not prepared for:

Binghamton, New York — May, 2009

Bronx, New York — May, 2009

Little Rock, Arkansas — June, 2009

New York and Colorado – September 21, 2009

Dallas, Texas — September 22, 2009

Fort Hood, Texas — November, 2009

Detroit, Michigan – December, 2009

May, 1st, 2010 United States New York City, New York

Thwarted attack in November 2010 by ‘Christmas tree bomber’

Frankfort, Germany United States Military base, March 2011

San Bernadino, California December 2015,

And now Orlando, Florida June 2016.

It is wrong to try to pin this on all Muslims. There are many Muslims out there, like Suddhi Jasher, good, decent people just trying to get by. But at the same time, there is no sense in blame shifting away from Islamic Inspired Terrorism. The Liberals want to blame all guns. Donald Trump has renewed his call for a ban on all Muslims. Both propose preposterous violations of the United States Constitution in their proposals. And don’t think your gun rights will be safe with Donald Trump. Trumpeters might want to tune out, I’m about to blaspheme against your god… But Donald Trump said he would work with the NRA to pass legislation to deny guns to people on the terror watch list. Clearly he doesn’t understand the concept of due process.

A watch list is a list of people who, due to something about their background, may or may not engage in criminality. Many people on those lists never actually do. Should we practice law like Minority Report, denying people their civil liberties based on what they might do?

The gun is not the problem. Law abiding citizens owning guns, even those scary mythical Assault Riffles, which don’t actually exist because AR means ArmaLight, not Assault Riffle, a term coined by the Communists on the Left who have been trying to get guns out of civilian hands since they went after black gun owners in the south in the 1960s. It’s a term designed to engender fear. It also distracts from the real problem.

I sincerely do not recall events like this during the Bush years, and by this I mean mass shootings, not just terror attacks. What did Bush do differently that this sort of thing never happened? Well, in all probability he had law enforcement focused on the correct things. All of the mass shooters from Adam Lanza to Jared Loughner, and even Dylan Roof have all been sold to you as allegedly right wing extremists, but in reality, all were socialists, yes even Roof, because Nazi is a National Socialist, and he had Nazi sympathies. He was not friendly to traditional Conservatives such as myself at all… But they all had one other thing in common which was more likely the central problem… they were all psychotically mentally ill, and were not getting adequate treatment for their illness. But never mind that, blame guns. Or blame video games, if you’re Glenn Beck… sorry, Glenn. In order to have some level of universal appeal I have to point out failings on both sides…

Meanwhile, the events I mentioned earlier, from Binghamton, New York to Orlando Florida have all been ideologically driven. Again, I’m not blaming all Muslims, I am just acknowledging there is a strain of Islam that encourages and condones this violence. It’s worth noting that the shooter, Omar Mateen, pledged loyalty to the Islamic State. ISIS, in turn, took credit for this shooting.

It’s also worth noting that many of the previously listed locations and incidents were gun free zones, or states with very strict Gun Laws, particularly New York, Michigan, California and Germany. What’s more, strict gun bans have failed to stop terror attacks like this in England, and more recently, France, and even the Netherlands that Comrade Bernie loves so much.

Gun Control won’t solve the problem. But believe you me, if more citizens are armed, that will either detour violent eruptions like this, or end them quickly. Imagine if just one of the Orlando club’s patrons was a member of Pink Pistols. How many lives could have been saved, while they were waiting, seemingly forever, for the police to arrive? But is saying to the LGBT community I support your right to your life, and your right to live it as you see fit, even if my scriptures are in disagreement with your lifestyle even a worthwhile endeavor? Is it worth our time to assure our gay neighbors that we love them, and care about them, even if we disagree with them on a few issues going to change anything? Or is recommending that they arm themselves so that no one, regardless of the villain’s religious affiliation, can ever cause their community this kind of harm again going to fall on deaf ears?

I know only one thing. I mean it when I say I love all people. A deep commitment to Christian love is a part of Conservative Culture. The people telling you that we all hate you all are fear mongers who do not care about your wellbeing. If they did, the media would be encouraging you to arm up, and not discourage you from speaking to us. Because if you talked to us, you might learn that we’re not so bad… the same way we came to learn that you are not so bad. Yes we believe sin is real, but we also believe it’s up to you to decide to accept or reject our faith. He that hath an ear to listen, may listen. We just want to live in peace with everyone. We’re not your enemy, and by letting the Left distract you from the real enemy, severe mental illness, and ideologically driven terror attacks, we are all being put in further danger.

I believe it’s time for America to stop yelling and screaming at each other and start looking at a very real fact. This stuff didn’t happen under Bush, sans 9-11. I believe the reason was because he had his eye on the correct thing. Obama is ignoring the root causes of mental illness and ideologically driven terror so that he can continue to use these incidents to push for massive gun control. That gun control, of course, will take the guns out of the hands of the law abiding citizen, and put us all at further risk. And sadly, it looks like Trump has bought at least part of the argument. No I don’t need an AR-15… but I want one because it’s an excellent sports riffle used for sports shooting, something my wife and I enjoy recreationally. But a lot of my friends also do use it for hunting. It’s a very proficient and versatile weapon.  Why should I, a man with no criminal record, who has long been a loving and loyal law abiding citizen, be punished because of the actions of a small few?

Perhaps the solution is for the government to stop hacking at leaves and start working on the root causes. Of course, that would mean Obama and the Democrats would have to stop letting people be killed by people the Bush administration would have stopped well before anything could happen… And that might mean doing things like profiling, or acknowledging the reality that the majority of these terror attacks are caused by Radicalized Islamists, a term I use to differentiate them from ordinary Muslims, not Christian Crusaders from a thousand years ago.

And perhaps the solution for we the people is to stop yelling at each other and accusing each other, but starting to talk to each other rationally, and logically.

But you know what? I am so sick of politics. All the politicians make me sick to my stomach.  

I love you all. Have a good night.