More Laws Will Not Stop Mass Shootings
They Never Have, and Never Will
Opinion
By now, you have probably heard of the unspeakable evil unleashed on innocent children of the Annunciation Catholic Church last Thursday, August 28th, by a mentally ill young man who killed himself after his murderous rampage. His act of rage was fueled by his stated irreconcilable regret for going down the road to be transgender female. According to news reports, his sickened heart longed to make children suffer and die (as NBC News reported on the motive of the mass shooter on their website).
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families involved.
However, according to Jen Psaki, the former press secretary during Biden’s first two years, we better not pray as she snapped, “Prayers are not freaking enough! Prayers do not end school shootings…Enough with the thoughts and prayers!” Then she and her liberal friends call for harsher gun laws that only disarm law-abiding citizens, and never impact the criminal element.
Don’t blame those who pray; blame those who think another law can stop evil from happening. Blame those who are so naïve as to believe that a “Gun Free Zone” sign outside a school can deter the mentally ill criminal with a gun.
There is no law any government can pass that will stop mass shootings. Not one. Look at harsh gun laws and corresponding record-high gun violence in places like Chicago and Washington, DC (before Pres. Trump sent in reinforcements), and you can see that another law cannot stop such evil behavior – only punish it after the fact.
There is a solution, but it is not political or legislative; it is spiritual. Jesus said, “Make a tree good, and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit…For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.” (Matt. 12:33, 34b)
The reason more laws cannot fix this problem is that laws only force outward compliance, but have no power to change the inside (one’s heart and mind). So then, how do we change the inside? Jesus said, “First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.” (Matt. 23:26). Laws cannot do what a life of faith in Christ can do.
Likewise, the Apostle wrote to the Roman believers, saying: “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing, and perfect will.” (Rom. 12:2). When you give your life to Christ, you are gradually being transformed from the inside out (a renewed mind) as you seek to live according to God’s will instead of the hatred, rage, violence, murder, and so on of the world.
Three great examples are Wales, England, the Hebrides Islands, and Almolonga, Guatemala. (These stories are chronicled in the Sentinel Group’s “Transformation Videos”). In 1904, Wales experienced a revival that transformed the people so much that the police formed quartets and sang in the revival meetings, because crime had virtually disappeared.
Between 1949 and 1953, a revival swept across the Hebrides Islands, causing bars and dance halls to close, crime to become rare, and people to gather at the police station to settle any outstanding debts they owed. And the prayer meetings had as many people, or more, than the Sunday morning service.
Almolonga, Guatemala, was shrouded in the darkness of demonic religions, alcohol, drugs, and four full jails in a town of about 19,000. When the revival came to that town in the early 1990s, about 9 out of 10 people became committed Christians. Within a relatively short time, the jails were sold because crime was not a significant issue in Almolonga, and the farmland produced bountiful harvests.
Mayor Eric Adams of New York City said something profound during a news conference about a recent gun violence incident in his city. He said, “When we took God out of the schools, guns entered our schools. We need to raise better children – we need to raise kids with faith. Don’t say ‘separation of Church and State’; you cannot separate them. The State is the Body, and the Church is the Heart. You take out the heart and the body dies.”
What we need is to invite God back into our schools, our halls of government, our businesses, courtrooms, law enforcement, homes, and yes, the Church. By “cleaning the inside of our cup and dish, the outside will also be clean.”