Thoughts about the Shooting

With the assassination attempt on the Congresswoman and the killing of numerous citizens, this tragedy is rightfully reigniting debate on the 2nd amendment and gun rights. First thing, it is for certain that the Founding Fathers, fresh off defeating the British Army in the Revolutionary War with weapons , believed guns to be an essential component for freedom. Yet, little did they imagine the deadly effectiveness of modern firepower. The right is enamored by the seductions of violence to accomplish its goals, both nationally and internationally.

There has been much debate about the tenor of discourse in our land that demonizes political opponents. The Left and Right are both guilty of the rancorous tone, yet I think it fair, as a Conservative, to concede that right-wing media is more guilty of awful rhetoric. We must treat all people as made in God's image even if we disagree vehemently with them.

The Left has other issues to answer to in events like these. Here are a few of them:

- All beliefs, as long as sincere, are equally valid. Post-modernism asserts this. Yet, we get queasy, as well we should be, when one person's ideas leads him to killing others. Intellectually, when moral absolutes are denied, don't be shocked when the furies are unleashed.

- The right to free speech is often denied to Conservatives in public and governmental forums because of such beliefs often deriving from religious conviction. When the government is in literally everything, the Church is told to keep on its side of the Wall even though such space is much less than it used to be. This has created this internet and radio-fueled incendiary back-draft.

- Evolution, as espoused by the establishment, clearly does not distinguish between humans and animals. This has created the elevation of animal rights and a curiously diminished human rights. Without the special status of humanity being protected, as image-bearers of God, don't be shocked when humans act worse than animals.

- Apparently the killer was a hard-core Pot smoker. Anyone who has spent anytime either professionally or personally in the presence of chronic Pot smokers sees the rampant narcissistic and emotionally-stunted individual it procures. This should give Liberals pause about legalizing marijuana. It is a social experiment where the consequences could be very costly.

- The Abortion generation. Liberals have argued that the right to privacy creates the legal authority for the termination of pregnancy, i.e. using violence to solve trying circumstances. I believe that the ethical national fabric of America began to tear in 1973 and it makes it hypocritical of Liberals to assert the abortion does not ultimately teach children about the efficacy of violence.

- It is clear that the killer's community college fellow students, professors, counseling staff, and administration, feared this young man, with administration mandating that he be evaluated for being at-risk of hurting himself and others, and to be found by a mental health professional to be not a threat, before being allowed back on campus. Privacy laws, as well as our gun laws, need to be amended here. This killer displayed bizarre and unusual behavior in public forums. There should be a "Good Samaritan" law protecting qualified mental health professionals who share their concerns with law enforcement, and these individuals should be monitored a kept from buying arms. Both the ACLU and the Gun Lobby need to give on this one. Virginia Tech was a wake-up call and we hit the snooze. And, now this has happened. Mentally ill individuals, as this terribly messed up young man is, have no business owning guns.