Gun Control via the Vegas Massacre

Another massacre begats another round of calls from the Left for Gun Control.

It happens every time there is a mass shooting in the U.S. The Left almost in unison cry for “reasonable gun control.” At the same time these cries ring out, those on the Right tout the 2nd Amendment and repeat the cry of the late Charlton Heston when he said “From my cold dead hands.” From one perspective 180 degrees away to the opposite perspective, and every kind of perspective in between. The bottom line: there is NO agreement on how to legally mandate workable gun control.

“Bump-stock:” What is it?

We’ve all had this description of a type of legal automation for conversion of a standard rifle to an automatic rifle discussed over and over since the Sunday Las Vegas massacre. In all of those descriptions there have been about 20 different versions of how it works and its uses. So which is accurate? Let’s look in on an actual demonstration of “Bump-fire:”

As you see, while adding a bump-stock to a factory built AR-15 or AK-47 allows one to shoot rapidly at a target, its effectiveness is very minimal. No doubt though doing so from a 32nd floor window into a ground floor crowd of 25,000 people is an insanely simple way to maim and kill far more people far more quickly than as a one-trigger-pull-one-shot with each trigger pull.

What Can We Do?

No doubt there is much political capital being expended to quickly legislate away the legal capability of purchasing and using a bump-stock on a rifle. I will be shocked if Congress does not take such action. But is such action necessary? Will that stop incidents like this? I am unsure about a correct answer to my first question, but I can categorically say that the answer to the second question is “No.” Why?

Guns don’t kill people — people kill people. Semi-automatic or automatic guns were not the culprits in San Bernadino, Sandy Hook, Dallas, Orlando, or South Carolina. The common denominator: People — deranged, confused, angry, cult-driven people. As long as there are People, murder will continue. The legislating away of guns will not stop murders and other massacres: there will still be machetes and hatchets and axes and knives and bats and clubs, etc. Long before guns Men killed men.

Murder began with the first two sons: Cain and Abel — the sons of Adam and Eve. Cain murdered his brother Abel. He had no gun. He killed his brother because of anger, bitterness, and resentment. Murder lives in all of mankind all over the World.

Back to my question above: “What Can we Do?” Some may not like my answer, but I have an answer that has worked throughout all of history: God.

The “Method” of the Cure

The common denominator in all murders is evil that resides in the hearts and minds of murderers. Until that evil is eliminated, murder will always exist along with a multitude of other evil acts. Murder is not the sin or evil — it is simply one act initiated by the evil that is allowed to exist in one’s heart and mind. The only 100% effective removal of that evil throughout human history has been through a spiritual encounter with God. When the human asks for forgiveness and for the Creator to replace that evil with love, all of the potential acts resulting from that evil are eliminated. Love is the universal cure for mass murder — and the only one.

I am NOT speaking of religion. Religion has never cured anyone who harbors murder in their heart. Religion is simply a creation of men who thought they could put all things God in a box called “church” or “temple” or “mosque,” create some rules to control others, and make those “church” operations beneficial to men, not God. God does not and never has operated that way. He does not need religion to change people.

John 3:16 says “For God so loved the World that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (King James version) “God is Love.” (John 4:8)

Don’t tag me as a Christian nut or “religious radical.” I’m not. I simply have in my 64 years seen thousands of people headed down life paths that could have easily led them to that 32nd floor Vegas hotel room with guns to slaughter fellow citizens in a concert park below. When they had their encounter with God’s love and allowed that experience to eliminate the evil in their hearts, the love of God and other people sent them down a totally different life path. That path never includes murder.

Summary

First, regarding the Las Vegas Massacre, there are many facts the public does not yet know. My advice is to not get caught up in the minutia of the travesty. I doubt that a 64-year old retired accountant who was non-athletic could haul 100 pounds of weapons into Mandalay Bay along with 350 pounds of ammunition and another 100 pounds of tripods. Further, I don’t think one guy — even with that much fire power — could in just 10 minutes accurately spray enough ammo on the crowd below to maim 500 people and kill 58 others. Discharging that much ammunition so quickly would have so smoke-filled that room no one could see or breathe in all the smoke. You saw in the video above just how inaccurate an AR-15 is using a bump-stock. If there were a couple of guys involved in the massacre that would almost make it believable. Facts as we know them do not support such a narrative that Americans have been given. I’m certain that narrative will change.

What will NOT change is that no legislation on Earth will stop murders. Maybe stop gun violence? Gun ownership in Chicago the most regulated in the nation. Yet hundreds in Chicago were slaughtered by guns in the last year — about 50 each month. Chicago’s leadership simply turns blind eyes to the senseless murders of innocents — mostly of young black men. Why not begin a spiritual initiative with one objective: stop the killing? Such a spiritual journey would most definitely change lives, and in doing so stop most — if not all — the murders. Why not give it a try? It just might work.

Ridding the World of gun massacres will happen only when men encounter God. Until that happens — especially after the inevitable copycats that are likely with all of the Vegas media exposure — we are destined to see our emergency rooms full of gun victims…and funeral homes, too.