The recent gun massacres in the US presents a very worrying state of society. On May 24, 2022, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos fatally shot nineteen students and two teachers. Seventeen others were wounded at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, United States. Earlier in the day, he shot his grandmother in the forehead at home, severely wounding her. It happened just 10 days after 10 people were shot and killed in a supermarket in Buffalo, New York. So far, there have been at least 246 mass shootings through June 5 this year. That is the same number the country (USA) saw through June 5 in 2021: the worst year on record since the Gun Violence Archive began tracking mass shootings in 2014. There was a total of 692 mass shootings in 2021.
The increasing frequency of these mass murders are influencing the calls for gun control in the “land of the free”. Guns have always been free to acquire since the founding of the USA, so why are gun murders increasing recently? Why were gun deaths very minimal in previous years? Unbeknownst to many, the increasing rate of gun murders reflect the increasing rate of drug abuse in the US. The US is faced with an opioid (fentanyl) epidemic that is claiming the lives of thousands yearly and destroying the peace and harmony of millions of homes.
Since 1999, some 760,000 people in the United States have fatally overdosed on opioids, including both prescription medications and illicit drugs such as heroin and fentanyl, which frequently ends up in the street as drugs. Marijuana is now legalized in many countries, and marijuana smoking is increasing throughout the world. Time would not permit me to describe the use of alcohol, especially during weekends and holidays, which also record very high number of shootings.
What do Americans watch on TV? Are they educated by popular and social media to fear God, live godly lives, and be humane🫂, or they are shown violence, hate, vengeance, evolution, and liberal anti-Christian themes? Can we feed the minds of people with mentally deranging drugs such as opioids, alcohol, marijuana etc., teach them evil on TV and expect a perfect society? Would gun control solve the problem of mass murders? In New York and California, where democrats hold sway and have gun controls, are mass shootings not occurring? In European countries where guns are strictly controlled, do people not use cars and knives, or even illegally acquired arms to still commit mass murder?
The Bible-based Christian society on which America was built, that ensured her peace throughout the centuries, are being eroded. In the early days of American life when the fear of God was paramount and divorce was exceptionally low, when TV was non-existent or TV content was overly religious, and drugs and alcohol were frowned upon, gun murders were not an issue. Simply put, we cannot plant vice and harvest virtue. It is like trying to eradicate non-communicable diseases (such as diabetes, hypertension, stroke, etc.) without controlling diet and lifestyle.
How can the mind determined to do evil be prevented from obtaining a gun? He/she will do everything possible to acquire it and cause harm. The underlying problem is our current moral and mental training that is breeding heartless humans. The absence of the Spirit of God is turning humanity into walking demons yearning for blood. Are we heading to the very condition in Noah’s day, when “the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually?”
May the good LORD fill us with His Spirit and keep us with His angels that we fall not into the hands of wicked men. A happy Sabbath and peaceful weekend to all.
