Neighborhood Ministries

In one shooting in Florida, for instance, the shooter went on a shooting rampage until police arrived. He then ditched the guns and ammunition and blended in with the fleeing students. In spite of the fact that it was one of the largest schools around, there was only one armed security guard in the entire school. Many schools that have been attacked have not had any security guards resulting in needless bloodshed that could have been stopped sooner had there been armed guards on duty. While armed citizens can’t stop all shootings, they can limit the number of deaths by stopping the shooter before he is able to fully carry out his attack. Many shooters come armed with multiple rapid fire weapons and a large quantity of ammunition and if they aren’t stopped quickly, they can cause a large number of injuries and deaths. It normally takes a while for police to assemble a strike force to isolate and take down a shooter and in that time, the shooter can kill or wound a large number of people, unless he is taken down by someone on the scene with a gun. Schools , malls, and churches have been favorite targets because there usually isn’t anyone likely to be carrying a gun to stop them.

Usually when an attacker targets a number of people, the media screams for gun control but after two recent attacks, they hardly said a word. The attacks were briefly mentioned and then ignored. The reason was that the attackers did not use guns. One used a knife while the other threw flammable liquid on the people. When a shooting occurs, the media and Democrats rush to call for a ban on guns but they ignore the fact that a number of tragic shootings have been cut short by security guards or citizens with permits to carry guns who risked their life confronting the shooter and were able to take him down and prevent further bloodshed. While the law used to protect homeowners that defended themselves, their families, and their property, the law in many States has been corrupted to punish gunowners who try to stop an attacker and gunowners risk jail time and heavy fines in trying to stop an attacker. While those seeking to ban guns claim it will reduce gun deaths, gun deaths actually increase since the criminals still have guns and don’t have to be afraid that they will be confronted by someone with a gun. As a result, other States have passed laws protecting those who use guns in self defense.  The goal is to ban guns in the hands of ordinary citizens so  they can not resist a government takeover by those who want to  seize control of the government. It was a favorite tactic of Hitler, Stalin, and other dictators.

Democrats say they are pushing for responsible gun ownership but have not pushed any legislation to promote gun safety and rely on limiting the availability of guns, which has proved a failure because criminals can still get guns. In addition, some bent on killing people have turned to bombs or other weapons when they could not get guns, though the media doesn’t report those because it doesn’t support their efforts to ban guns. The National Rifle Association and other conservative groups have been the ones pushing for laws requiring responsible gun use and safety training and providing that training. There is no public record of how many mass shootings have been prevented or limited by innocent citizens who were carrying guns and were able to take down the shooter before they could kill many people, because they don’t make spectacular news and would hurt the efforts of the media to ban guns.

Democrats say they support gun control, and whenever there is a mass shooting, they ramp up their calls for banning the sale and possession of firearms. Everywhere Democrats control, they have pushed for banning or limiting the sale of guns. However, gun control doesn’t work because many mass shooters have obtained their guns legally because they had nothing that would show up on a background check. Background checks did not prevent them from getting weapons. Others got the weapons from friends or family. It also deprives innocent citizens of weapons to defend themselves while criminals can get free access to guns on the Black market. As a result, cities controlled by Democrats are the most dangerous cities in America because the criminals have free reign without having to worry about being confronted with armed victims. Mass shooters who have lived have said they chose a place where guns were banned or would not be normally carried such as schools, churches, restaurants, and concerts, so they would not have to worry about being confronted by armed citizens.

People wring their hands and wonder what to do. The politicians and media come up with the obvious. Background checks-Practically all these mass shooters either obtained the guns illegally or had no record that would have stopped the sale, even with a background check. Take away everyone’s guns-The only guns you get are the ones of innocent people trying to protect themselves. Once they are disarmed, the criminals have a field day. Crime and violence escalate quickly. Most mass shootings take place in places where guns aren’t allowed. The shooters know that when they pick their targets. They don’t want to be interrupted by people with guns.  The guy in Texas wasn’t wearing a bullet-proof vest because he wanted to make a fashion statement. Once they are over, the investigations usually reveal a long trail so obvious a blind man could have followed it. The guy in Texas was a typical shooter. He was a loner, who felt no one cared. He was often bullied, then constantly in trouble, then labeled a trouble-maker, then spread his anger all over the social media, but at each stage, nobody listened. What would it take to get their attention? He bragged about doing something big, displayed his guns for all to see, but nobody listened. He shot his grandmother and broadcast that, but nobody listened. There is only one thing left. The more people he killed, the more people would pay attention, and they did.  By then it was too late. Why did he have to go that far before someone listened? In the beginning, all that was needed was for someone to show him they cared. One person or a small group could have stopped it at any point if they had only listened. The farther it goes, the harder it is to stop.

While I don’t encourage people to carry guns, I don’t believe that limiting gun ownership will solve the problem. The shooter at Columbine High School had a variety of bombs in the school that he was going to set off after he shot a lot of people. Fortunately, he was stopped before he could set them off. Outlawing guns would not have stopped him. If he could not have gotten the guns, he probably would have still tried to set off the bombs. We need to stop the people that are going to do these things. The media played up the fact that this was totally unexpected, and no one knew about it until it happened. However, the shooter had broadcast that he was going to do something like that for almost two years, but no one paid any attention to him. On his way to school that day, he told a friend he met to turn around and go home because he should not go to school that day. Most school shooters have left a long trail of warnings which no one paid any attention to. A lot of incidents you have never heard about, have not happened because someone stopped to listen. In fact, the shooters are usually loners who were bullied or ignored and feel this is their way to get noticed. We need to reach these people before they reach the point of violence.