The Appalling Gun Culture
A commentary by Graemme Marshall
United Church of God pastor, Ottawa, Canada
Jane
Creba, a 15-year old bystander, was shot to death outside of a sporting
goods store in Toronto, Canada on Boxing Day afternoon. While shopping with
her family she was caught in an exchange of gunfire between suspected rival
gangs.
This innocent teenager's death marked the day when Toronto 'finally
lost its innocence,' said police spokesman Savas Kyriacou (BBC
News website, Toronto). It also marked a 15-year high for gun violence
in Canada's largest city.
Does a nation lose its innocence when its children can't
go to school or shop with their parents without risking being shot? I
ask that question, as I review some shocking hand gun statistics, not
to take sides in the handgun-ownership debate but to consider a much
deeper problem.
A lack of self-control is spreading like wildfire in our world today.
And gun violence illustrates perfectly the terrible consequences of this
enormous decline in personal self-discipline.
Here are more illustrations. A Los Angeles Times article titled "Should
Handguns Be Banned?" drew this startling word picture of just gun-related
deaths alone more than a decade ago: "In 1992 there were 15,300
gun homicides in the United States. Over the last 25 years, more Americans
have died in gun-related murders than were killed in the Vietnam War,
the Korean War and World War 1 combined" (October 15,1993).
Despite 12,000 handgun deaths in the United States last year, only 160
or so of these were ruled to have been in self-defense. More than 250
million guns are in public circulation in the US. Guns purchased by law-abiding
citizens for 'protection' are increasingly ending up in the
backpacks of schoolchildren, the pockets of drug dealers, robbers, gang
members or professional thugs. The United States has a well developed
national gun culture. Gun violence is now one of its national addictions.
Health concerns are also increasing because of the relationship gun
of violence to illegal drug, alcohol and tobacco crimes and turf wars.
Victims of gun-related accidents pose health concerns. An eight-year-old
boy who had found his father's loaded gun in the hall cupboard
took it to a school day-care center near Washington DC. Its accidental
discharge, while still inside his backpack, wounded a seven-year-old
girl in the arm.
And only three days later a member of Virginia's state legislature,
Jack Reid, was apparently trying to unload his automatic handgun when
it accidentally discharged. The bullet embedded itself in his bulletproof
vest hanging on his office door. Reid described this as a stroke of luck
because, if not for the vest, the bullet could have passed through the
door and struck his personal assistant! (The Sydney
Morning Herald, Michael
Gawenda, February 6, 2006).
What is the solution to this escalating problem with violence—especially
in a nation like the US that prides itself in personal freedom? How can
it be brought under control without taking away those freedoms? Or must
some freedoms be restricted? Many countries have already taken that route.
They require guns to be registered and restrict them mostly to policemen,
members of gun clubs or gun collectors and those in specifically approved
occupations.
For example, in Britain, Canada, Sweden, Australia, Switzerland and
Japan private citizens generally must get a license and submit to a background
check to own a gun. What is most interesting is that handguns killed
only 291 people in all of these countries in 1990. The same
year in the United States 10,567 people died in gun related incidents
(Los Angeles Times, October 15. 1993).
Why are gun-related deaths so significant? They illustrate perfectly
the difficulty that we human beings have in using properly the liberties
that are granted to us. Liberty to live and work without government oppression—when
compared with nations with limited personal freedoms—is a blessing.
But liberty in a populace with low self-discipline, as is found in some
Africa nations today, rarely produces good results. More is needed.
In the end, it all comes down to the prevailing moral fiber of free
citizens. A proverb sums up why this is true: "Where there is no
revelation, the people cast off restraint; but blessed
is he who keeps the law [of God]" (Proverbs 29:18). Too much freedom
without a solid foundation in revealed knowledge of divine law
leads to an absence of self restraint. Isn't that what
we face—a growing loss of innocence due to a character crises.
 Belief
in the Creator God and deep respect for His revealed word, the Bible
leads people to respect the sanctity of life. It also
strengthens personal self-discipline. To learn more about how
God's law must be the foundation of all good character, be sure
to request your free copy of our booklet: The
Ten Commandments.
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