Black Community News News and Commentary for Christians
The Second Amendment is non-negotiable. It’s the glue that holds the Bill of Rights together. Benjamin Franklin once stated, “They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” I agree.
Whenever mass shootings happen power hungry politicians rush to microphones to exploit the dead and demand more gun control. But America doesn’t have a gun problem, we have a morality problem.
“Red flag” laws, which flip due process on its head, won’t stop mass shootings anymore than past gun control measures have. Laws address societal symptoms, but they can’t change one’s heart. Likewise, mental health patients are already concerned about the stigma that follows them. These laws will discourage them from seeking the help they need.
Let’s be rational, if gun control worked, gun related homicides in democratic cities like Chicago and Baltimore, that have the nation’s toughest gun laws, would be rare. But criminals don’t obey laws and there’s nothing we can do to stop evil and crazy people from doing evil and crazy things. If we allow bureaucrats to punish good gun owners by banning sport and self-defense rifles like AR-15s, what’ll happen when the next mass murderer uses a 9mm Glock, or a .38 Smith and Wesson revolver? They’ll ban those too! These laws are about control, not safety. If we’re not careful, the only guns left will be the ones criminals use to rob us with.
Democrats won’t stop until the Second Amendment is gone. They’re great at distorting facts and creating scary terms like “assault rifles,” and “weapons of war” to scare voters into submission.
Additionally, more handguns are used in mass shootings than rifles, a fact often ignored by the press. As for universal background checks, they already exist for new gun buyers and those same background checks are used at gun shows. The truth is leftists want to end private gun sales and stop parents from passing their guns down to their kids.
None of their ideas will stop mass shootings, but here are cultural solutions to reduce gun violence worth considering:
1) Reintroduce the 10 Commandments in public schools: Kids don’t know the difference between what’s morally right and wrong, good and evil and why objective truth matters if morals are subjective and arbitrary. When kids understand that there are immediate and eternal consequences for murder, because there is a God who watches above, we’ll see less of it.
2) Snitches should get rewarded: In the ‘hood and in jail, “snitches” are despised. This mindset has permeated society, and it’s one reason why “red flag” laws won’t work. Often people don’t snitch on a potential suspect for fear of retaliation and because they’ll be ridiculed by their peers. That’s why gun violence is so prevalent in inner cities where gangs and drug dealers are plentiful.
3) Digitally desensitized: Violent video games contribute to the desensitization to violence that we see in our kids. But, so do cell phones! I’m not in favor of banning either one. I prefer parental supervision. Today, social media and video games are raising many American kids. Look at how mean, disrespectful and bold kids are on Twitter. I’m convinced that Antifa is a tech revolution as much as they are a fascist revolution. Kids today lack human connection. They’re detached from reality and real people. They can’t handle disagreement because they can be as nasty as they want to be online without consequence or compromise. Mass shooters are a physical manifestation of digital courage left unchecked by real people in their lives.
4) Promote fatherhood: A father, mother and child are the ideal family unit. Although an intact family isn’t possible for everyone, we should encourage our kids to marry and make babies. When you consider that nearly 75 percent of black babies are born out of wedlock, it shouldn’t shock us when poverty and incarceration rates are high, and education isn’t as esteemed in black and minority communities. Dads matter! They impact their child’s self-esteem, intellectual development, independence, courage, social development, spiritual life, respect for the opposite sex, their ability to resolve conflict, and the list goes on.
Single mothers should find a safe, mentally healthy and stable male role model for their kids, excluding boyfriends. Preferably, a grandfather, uncle, fiancée, leader at church, sports coach, etc.
5) Expose “violent” juvenile offenders: Criminal records for people that were violent juvenile offenders should be considered when they want to purchase a legal gun as an adult. The Parkland and Dayton, Ohio shooters both had sordid pasts as youths. You don’t need red flag laws to recognize when individuals are mildly, moderately or severely mentally ill. If they’ve been professionally diagnosed as bipolar or schizophrenic, don’t sell them a gun. Also, make their criminal history publicly available, including to gun store owners. If former juvenile offenders aren’t diagnosed as bipolar or schizophrenic, and they’ve been productive, non-violent citizens for a length of time predetermined by the courts, restore their gun rights.
6) Arm yourself: American citizens use guns approximately 2 million times per year to defend their lives or prevent a crime. Why isn’t this ever reported? It simply doesn’t support the media narrative that guns are bad. The truth is, guns are used 7 to 8 times more for good purposes.
Reducing mass shootings requires a recognition of America’s moral failures, not more gun laws. The next heartless and evil mass shooter has already obtained a gun, legally or illegally. I’ve decided that I want to be armed to stop him. If you want to be a sitting duck, go ahead.
Photo credit: By Joshuashearn – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Carl Jackson is a radio talk show host – his web site is www.carljacksonshow.com.
The views expressed in opinion articles are solely those of the author and are not necessarily either shared or endorsed by Black Community News.
Well said! I pray God expands the voice of CURE/BCM for the godly wisdom you brothers & sisters share (and I mean as brothas & sistas in Christ and in soul … lol) One
There are good, common sense, voices in the black community. These are voices ALL communities could benefit from ‘reading after!’ Too many to mention in an attempt to name all here. Just some that pop into my mind: Deneen Borelli, Star Parker, Walter Williams, Mr. Carl Jackson, Candace Ownes(newbie), Harris Faulkner, Michelle malkin(though not black has a load of common sense), Lauren Green, Allen West – and many more!
As Carl Jackson points out, America only survives through its strong family structure. Catastrophically, the American family, over the past fifty-odd years, has had a seismic shift to the brink of extinction! Americans have LOST the culture war, and I am not sure how that gets turned around.
Consider: In 1960, barely 2 percent of all American children, from all racial and ethnic backgrounds, lived with a never married parent. PAY rapt attention to that 2% of ALL number(BAD old days?)! By 2008, 41 percent of black children, 18 percent of Hispanic children, and 7 percent of white children lived in a home with an unmarried parent.
Over this same period of time, from 1960 to 2008, the percentage of white adults that are married dropped from 74 percent to 56 percent, Hispanic adults from 72 percent to 50 percent, and black adults from 61 percent to 32 percent. Since that “legislating from the bench” SCOTUS decree in ’73, Americans have killed the equivalent of entire populations of several ‘countries’ through abortion – 62 million and counting.
America’s cultural decline is the REAL reason for the change that has brought at least two generations of people with questionable morals, no self-respect, no respect for life, no respect for authority, and NO belief in any Higher Power than themselves. That is the question few are asking: “What Has Changed” over the past fifty years that has America ‘reaping’ the chaff of, kids killing other kids in near genocidal numbers, moral less, conscious-less killers of the innocent, a.k.a. “gun violence.” Women/men killing their own children, new borns even, because they are inconvenient to their narcissistic life! NONE of this has some “government cure.”
There are other stats showing the decline of all things needed for a successful society in America, but just those mentioned are SCARY enough to know that NO society can survive continuing down that road!
This article and those penned by those other black “leaders” should be broadcast nation wide on a continuing loop – instead of the constant drum beat of “racism,” “hatred,” and anything and everything negative that can be said about this president! Had we an actual media, interested in the continuation of America as GREAT, these would be the front page and leading points of ALL news…..
I am retired federal law enforcement office over forty year experience in all levels of law enforcement and when people talk about gun crime they are speaking from ignorance. First of almost everyone in law enforcement has raised their right hand and taken an oath uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America against all enemies foreign and domestic and you have never bothered to read it much less learn it. In 1968 a law called the Omnibus Safe Streets and Crime Control Act of 1968 also known as The Gun Control Act of 1968, Public Law 90-618 purpose “Sec. 101. The Congress hereby declares that the purpose of this title is to provide support to Federal, State, and local law enforcement officials in their fight against crime and violence, and it is not the purpose of this title to place any undue or unnecessary Federal restrictions or burdens on law-abiding citizens with respect to the acquisition, possession, or use of firearms appropriate to the purpose of hunting, trapshooting, target shooting, personal protection, or any other lawful activity, and that this title is not intended to discourage or eliminate the private ownership or use of firearms by law-abiding citizens for lawful purposes, or provide for the imposition by Federal regulations of any procedures or requirements other than those reasonably necessary to implement and effectuate the provisions of this title.” Section d) It shall be unlawful for any person to sell or otherwise dispose of any firearm or ammunition to any person knowing or having reasonable cause to believe that such person — (1) is under indictment for, or has been convicted in any court of, a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year; (2) is a fugitive from justice; (3) is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance (as defined in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802)); (4) has been adjudicated as a mental defective or has been committed to any mental institution; (This was always my favorite section because I was always wondering I if it covered employment as a federal law enforcement officer in the Department of the Treasury.) (5) who, being an alien, is illegally or unlawfully in the United States; (6) who has been discharged from the Armed Forces under dishonorable conditions; (7) who, having been a citizen of the United States, has renounced his citizenship; ( That was because of Lee Harvey Oswald) or(8) is subject to a court order that restrains such person from harassing, stalking, or threatening an intimate partner of such person or child of such intimate partner or person, or engaging in other conduct that would place an intimate partner in reasonable fear of bodily injury to the partner or child, except that this paragraph shall only apply to a court order that –(A) was issued after a hearing of which such person received actual notice, and at which such person had the opportunity to participate; and (B)(unintended consequeses ) includes a finding that such person represents a credible threat to the physical safety of such intimate partner or child; or (ii) by its terms explicitly prohibits the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against such intimate partner or child. That would reasonably be expected to cause bodily injury. What no one realizes is that in 1969 the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York sitting in Manhattan, New York CountyWhat no one realizes is that in 1969 the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York sitting in Manhattan, New York County held that the law was unconstitutional because it was self- incriminatory for convicted felons and mental defectives because it would preclude them from seeking professional help for their illness which was the argument that the American Civil Liberties Union used when they appealed it. It has never been appealed to a higher court by the United States Government!!! Felons and nuts just love the American Civil Liberties Union’s GOOD WORKS!!!!!!!!!!