Woke up this morning to another shooting, this time in Roanoke, Virginia. All of it caught live on camera and documented by the gunman himself on social media.
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I check my social media feed. I am bombarded with dozens of photos like this:
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This piece documents the cost of gun violence in America.
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This is where Gun Control advocates like me say we need to do something about our fascination—our obsession—with guns, and write pieces like this:
This is where the Gun Lobby people quote the 2nd Amendment and say Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.
This is where nothing happens.
Teri Carter's Library 
Dude, you need to weed your feed in a big way.
This is the reality in the weeds.
That was my first thought too. “unfriend” “unfriend” “unfriend”
I don’t see it every day. But I know it’s there. And it is there afresh Every Single Day. Real life.
Nothing ever will.
If the mental image of 20 innocent 6 and 7 year old children slaughtered in an elementary school doesn’t change our attitude, I don’t believe anything ever will. Greed will always trump whatever positive change you might imagine. Saving innocent lives is not part of the calculation. It’s pathetic.
Agree w/ George, if Sandy Hook did not move the needle, nothing will.
Exactly. We are a nation of cowards who conflate gun ownership with freedom.
I spent many a wonderful afternoon in Moneta VA at my friends house on Smith Mountain Lake. We went to the Bridgewater. We used to pull up in the boat, and prowl around that very area where the reporter, cameraman and the City Council woman were being interviewed. Buy ice cream or drinks, etc. I’ve skied more times than I can count on that lake. What a tragedy in such a beautiful spot.
For awhile I made a point of sharing every article I find where a gun killed an innocent person on Facebook (I still do for the most part especially if it’s not very publicized) and one of my cousins got fed up and unfriended me. I guess it was one too many children dying at the hands of their father.
Shouldn’t we be focusing on the acts themselves and not the weapon used. There have also been numerous posts on social media which a gun sits on a table for days on end, fully loaded and nothing happens. The gun doesn’t miraculously jump up and fire at anyone until a hand takes it’s grips. I live in Canada where gun control is enforced. More and more I see on the news about shootings. But guess what, the criminals get guns anyway, and innocent unarmed people die. Fact of life. In England where Bobbies were only armed with billies, are now armed with guns. Why? Because, even with gun control the criminals will get guns, and kill. Another option please..Control isn’t working but only against law abiding people…
I must second Pastor Richard’s comments. It’s not as simple as the old “Guns don’t kill people…” thing. If guns were controlled and outlawed and didn’t exist, the lunatics that demonstrate their destructive behaviors would simply use something else. I imagine it could be even worse. There’s a skewed focus on gun violence. I’m guessing if you researched statistics you’d find more people are murdered with knives, bare hands, blunt objects and motor vehicles than with guns.
We can’t outlaw everything.
The right to keep and bear arms was established when it took twenty seconds to load each round (and that was drill-fast loading) in a gun that was accurate out to about 50 feet. This right was also intended to allow us to keep an organized militia to protest or rise up against tyrannical governments. We all know what would happen today to an American that challenged the government with firearms, so why not amend the Bill of Rights to reflect reality and modernity?
As long as we keep selling deadly cigarettes and addictive alcohol on every street corner, and have a government that is promoting the construction of gambling casinos at a phenomenal rate, we’re not likely to see much capitulation by the gun lobby, or action by the government.
Seek peace,
Paz