The Missing Element in the Debate About Guns

A critical component is missing from the increasing debate on gun violence in light of the killings at Robb Elementary school, Uvalde (Texas), last Friday. This is the wrong place to start.

Isaac Newton’s Thermodynamics Third Law states: “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”

While Newton’s laws were about physics, the concept of action and reaction, of cause and effect, could be applied in other areas, such as violent people who use guns to kill others. You will notice that I did not refer to gun violence, but violent people.

It is better to start at the beginning, rather than starting with guns. Voting for liberal district attorneys or liberal judges that release dangerous criminals with minimal to no bail is an act of democracy. They will likely commit more crimes.

The conservative Heritage Foundation notes, “The most prominent rogue prosecutors are George Gascon in Los Angeles, Chesa Boudin in San Francisco, Kim Foxx in Chicago, Larry Krasner in Philadelphia, Marilyn Mosby in Baltimore, Kimberly Gardner in St. Louis, and Rachael Rollins in Boston.”

Others include John Chisholm, Milwaukee district attorney.

It UK Daily Mail reports that Chisholm told an interviewer: “Is there going to be an individual I divert, or put into a program, who’s going to go out and kill? You bet.”

Chisholm’s office gave a deferred prosecution to a convicted drug dealer. According to the Mail, after his release, that drug dealer killed a 26 year-old girl with heroin. Then, he tried to conceal her body. Darrell Brooks was arrested and released after being held on $1,000 bail. Brooks killed five people in a Christmas parade within weeks. Brooks was previously convicted for felony running over his mother.

Again, the death of innocent people was triggered by a decision (low bail for dangerous criminals).

If we refuse to teach wrong from right in our schools, culture and society, it will lead to a generation that behaves as we wish.

Many American public schools were using the McGuffey reader from 1836 until 1936. These readers contained lessons and sayings that were intended to help young people conform to good behavior for themselves, their families, and wider society. They included respect for parents and patriotism as well as honesty and hard work.

The necessity of religious faith was also promoted as a foundation for a better lifestyle. Here’s one This is an excerpt from the 1879 edition: “Religion: the only basis of society. What a weak conscience it would be if there was no belief in God. All thought, fear and concern for God would be eliminated from any community. The whole Man will become selfishness and sensuality. … Man would become what the theory of atheism declares him to be.”

Action and reaction are again the key words. A person can be taught moral principles and faith, but they will not become the same type. In modern times, the opposite of these values has led to a new type of person: those who kill and shoot at children. Can anyone credibly assert that the concepts contained in those old books failed to create adults who respected the law, life and the property of others as opposed to what is being taught – and not taught – in schools and by culture today?

It will not help the problem to try and ban some guns. It will be possible to recall and teach ancient truths. This will take a new kind of action from what we’ve seen in the past. These time-tested values can be restored, which is more likely than the reaction we want but cannot get through more laws.