More Gun Violence in America

Sadly, I have posted this essay six times now since 2015.  Why are we so trapped in this death-making culture? ~ CK

The Fires of Moloch Are Burning

Moreover he burnt incense in the valley of Ben Hinnom, and burnt his children in the fire, after the abominations of the heathen whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel.

                                                                                                                  2 Chronicles 28:3

And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of Ben Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination

                                                                                                                  Jeremiah 32:35

Illustration from Foster Bible Pictures
Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons 

Moloch was the ancient Phoenician and Canaanite god known in the Old Testament Book of Deuteronomy for the practice of propitiatory child sacrifice.  There are few images more horrifying than that of fearful people offering up their own children to be burned on the altar of a domineering death-making god. Yet we are seeing the fires of Moloch burning in 21^st century America.

We have seen this week yet another disturbing incident of promising lives brought to a sudden end by gun violence. Once again there is talk of stronger gun control laws, yet we are impotent to make any changes. Our failure to act even in the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre  in which 20 young children were killed, all of them 6 and 7 years old, demonstrated that we would rather sacrifice our beautiful preschoolers than do anything that might be perceived as a desecration of the Bill of Rights. Our words say that we honor American freedom, while our actions say that we live in fear and have so little regard for our children that we will willingly feed them to our modern day fires of Moloch. [To see a map of all the mass shooting since Sandy Hook, go here]

In a country whose politicians love to shout “God Bless America!” at the end of their speeches, and whose people speak of faith in the public square and argue about putting the Ten Commandments on display, it is the ancient and brutal god Moloch who holds sway over so much of our public discourse. Indeed the fires of Moloch continue to consume our children while nothing is done to extinguish those flames.

Why Do We Tolerate Death and Glorify Violence?

According to The Brady Center, “Over 18,000 American children and teens are injured or killed each year due to gun violence. This means nearly 48 youth are shot every day, including 7 fatalities.” 

And here are some more statistics from The Brady Center:

America has a problem with gun violence

·         One in three people in the U.S. know someone who has been shot.

·         On average, 31 Americans are murdered with guns every day and 151 are treated for a gun assault in an emergency room.

·         Every day on average, 55 people kill themselves with a firearm, and 46 people are shot or killed in an accident with a gun.

·         The U.S. firearm homicide rate is 20 times higher than the combined rates of 22 countries that are our peers in wealth and population.

·         A gun in the home is 22 times more likely to be used to kill or injure in a domestic homicide, suicide, or unintentional shooting than to be used in self-defense.

Gun Violence Takes a Massive Toll on American Children

·         More than one in five U.S. teenagers (ages 14 to 17) report having witnessed a shooting.

·         An average of seven children and teens under the age of 20 are killed by guns every day.

·         American children die by guns 11 times as often as children in other high-income countries.

·         Youth (ages 0 to 19) in the most rural U.S. counties are as likely to die from a gunshot as those living in the most urban counties. Rural children die of more gun suicides and unintentional shooting deaths. Urban children die more often of gun homicides.

·         Firearm homicide is the second-leading cause of death (after motor vehicle crashes) for young people ages 1-19 in the U.S.

·         In 2007, more pre-school-aged children (85) were killed by guns than police officers were killed in the line of duty.

Gun Violence is a Drain on U.S. Taxpayers

·         Medical treatment, criminal justice proceedings, new security precautions, and reductions in quality of life are estimated to cost U.S. citizens $100 billion annually.

·         The lifetime medical cost for all gun violence victims in the United States is estimated at $2.3 billion, with almost half the costs borne by taxpayers.

Americans Support Universal Background Checks

·         Nine out of 10 Americans agree that we should have universal background checks, including three out of four NRA members.

·         Since the Brady Law was initially passed, about 2 million attempts to purchase firearms have been blocked due to a background check. About half of these blocked attempts were by felons.

·         Unfortunately, our current background check system only applies to about 60% of gun sales, leaving 40% (online sales, purchases at gun shows, etc.) without a background check.

One question we must answer is why does our society so quickly come to the defense of guns after every deadly incident of gun violence? There are those who call for change, but such calls are always met with a push back from people who cannot tolerate any change in our gun laws. Lawmakers are forever paralyzed by the gun lobbyists and the fear-mongers.

Freedom or Fear?

Why are our citizens and our politicians are unable to put a stop to gun violence? If there were the political will, assault rifles and semi-automatic weapons could be banned tomorrow. The sad fact is, however, that our people seem to be too fearful to consider a peaceful society. We say that we are honoring the Second Amendment to the Constitution – that we hold the Bill of Rights to ensure our freedom – but the truth is, we live in fear. Why else would we be so powerless to stop our current practice of sacrificing children to the fires of gun violence?

Poster from The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence

Picture depicting worship of Moloch from The Jewish Encyclopedia

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Friday Funnies: A Backbone (one can always hope)

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Editorial cartoon by Bill Bramhall of the New York Daily News



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When Gun Violence Comes Calling for Your Children

Picture depicting worship of Moloch from The Jewish Encyclopedia

This week, America experienced yet more mass shootings. It is a pattern all too familiar in our country.  It was back in 2015 that I first likened our gun problem with the Old Testament story of the pagan god, Moloch, to whom devotees sacrificed their children:

In a country whose politicians love to shout “God Bless America!” at the end of their speeches, and whose people speak of faith in the public square and argue about putting the Ten Commandments on display, it is the ancient and brutal god Moloch who holds sway over so much of our public discourse. Indeed the fires of Moloch continue to consume our children while nothing is done to extinguish those flames.

On CNN’s State of the Union, Mayor Pete Buttigieg  had this to say in response to the most recent mass shooting in El Paso and in Dayton this weekend:

“Here is something to think about this Sunday morning. Is a gun a tool or an idol? Any time I’ve carried or handled a weapon, whether in Afghanistan for self-defense or whether it was to go skeet shooting or hunting, I viewed it as a tool. But if the gun corporation lobby, which is what the NRA is, now has people viewing guns as a thing to be loved, a thing to be protected, a thing that is a source of our freedom and power and a thing to which we are willing to sacrifice human life, isn’t that the definition of a false God?”

 

What will you do when Moloch, who seems to have this country pinned down, comes calling for your own children?  Sadly, this is the fourth time I have posted “The Fires of Moloch.” The fourth time in four years, but before that, I mourned for the children of Sandy Hook on the Feast of the Innocents.

Here is how I framed it in August of 2015:

Gun Violence in America

Moreover he burnt incense in the valley of Ben Hinnom, and burnt his children in the fire, after the abominations of the heathen whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel.

                                                                                                                  2 Chronicles 28:3

And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of Ben Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination

                                                                                                                  Jeremiah 32:35

Illustration from Foster Bible Pictures
Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons 

Moloch was the ancient Phoenician and Canaanite god known in the Old Testament Book of Deuteronomy for the practice of propitiatory child sacrifice.  There are few images more horrifying than that of fearful people offering up their own children to be burned on the altar of a domineering death-making god. Yet we are seeing the fires of Moloch burning in 21^st century America.

We have seen this week yet another disturbing incident of promising lives brought to a sudden end by gun violence. Once again there is talk of stronger gun control laws, yet we are impotent to make any changes. Our failure to act even in the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre  in which 20 young children were killed, all of them 6 and 7 years old, demonstrated that we would rather sacrifice our beautiful preschoolers than do anything that might be perceived as a desecration of the Bill of Rights. Our words say that we honor American freedom, while our actions say that we live in fear and have so little regard for our children that we will willingly feed them to our modern day fires of Moloch. [To see a map of all the mass shooting since Sandy Hook, go here]

In a country whose politicians love to shout “God Bless America!” at the end of their speeches, and whose people speak of faith in the public square and argue about putting the Ten Commandments on display, it is the ancient and brutal god Moloch who holds sway over so much of our public discourse. Indeed the fires of Moloch continue to consume our children while nothing is done to extinguish those flames.

Why Do We Tolerate Death and Glorify Violence?

According to The Brady Center, “Over 18,000 American children and teens are injured or killed each year due to gun violence. This means nearly 48 youth are shot every day, including 7 fatalities.” 

And here are some more statistics from The Brady Center:

America has a problem with gun violence

·         One in three people in the U.S. know someone who has been shot.

·         On average, 31 Americans are murdered with guns every day and 151 are treated for a gun assault in an emergency room.

·         Every day on average, 55 people kill themselves with a firearm, and 46 people are shot or killed in an accident with a gun.

·         The U.S. firearm homicide rate is 20 times higher than the combined rates of 22 countries that are our peers in wealth and population.

·         A gun in the home is 22 times more likely to be used to kill or injure in a domestic homicide, suicide, or unintentional shooting than to be used in self-defense.

Gun Violence Takes a Massive Toll on American Children

·         More than one in five U.S. teenagers (ages 14 to 17) report having witnessed a shooting.

·         An average of seven children and teens under the age of 20 are killed by guns every day.

·         American children die by guns 11 times as often as children in other high-income countries.

·         Youth (ages 0 to 19) in the most rural U.S. counties are as likely to die from a gunshot as those living in the most urban counties. Rural children die of more gun suicides and unintentional shooting deaths. Urban children die more often of gun homicides.

·         Firearm homicide is the second-leading cause of death (after motor vehicle crashes) for young people ages 1-19 in the U.S.

·         In 2007, more pre-school-aged children (85) were killed by guns than police officers were killed in the line of duty.

Gun Violence is a Drain on U.S. Taxpayers

·         Medical treatment, criminal justice proceedings, new security precautions, and reductions in quality of life are estimated to cost U.S. citizens $100 billion annually.

·         The lifetime medical cost for all gun violence victims in the United States is estimated at $2.3 billion, with almost half the costs borne by taxpayers.

Americans Support Universal Background Checks

·         Nine out of 10 Americans agree that we should have universal background checks, including three out of four NRA members.

·         Since the Brady Law was initially passed, about 2 million attempts to purchase firearms have been blocked due to a background check. About half of these blocked attempts were by felons.

·         Unfortunately, our current background check system only applies to about 60% of gun sales, leaving 40% (online sales, purchases at gun shows, etc.) without a background check.

One question we must answer is why does our society so quickly come to the defense of guns after every deadly incident of gun violence? There are those who call for change, but such calls are always met with a push back from people who cannot tolerate any change in our gun laws. Lawmakers are forever paralyzed by the gun lobbyists and the fear-mongers.

Freedom or Fear?

Why are our citizens and our politicians are unable to put a stop to gun violence? If there were the political will, assault rifles and semi-automatic weapons could be banned tomorrow. The sad fact is, however, that our people seem to be too fearful to consider a peaceful society. We say that we are honoring the Second Amendment to the Constitution – that we hold the Bill of Rights to ensure our freedom – but the truth is, we live in fear. Why else would we be so powerless to stop our current practice of sacrificing children to the fires of gun violence?

Poster from The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence

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The Fires of Moloch Are (Still) Burning

Yesterday we witnessed yet another school shooting in which children died at the hands of a shooter armed with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle. It was yet another indication that in this country, we are too willing to let our children be killed for the sake of preserving our freedom of gun ownership. Mass shootings are entirely too common in the U.S. For that reason, I am re-posting my essay about the "fires of Moloch," which we seem hell-bent on stoking.

Sadly, this is the fourth time this essay has been published. Twice before on my blog, then another time at AMERICABlog. Each time it was following another unfortunate incident of gun violence. There have been several other posts as well on this blog regarding gun violence. In 2013 I posted an open letter to Senator Harry Reid in which I took the senator to task for not bringing a bill to the senate floor which would have included a ban on assault rifles. That failure to act was in spite of the fact that a majority of American favor gun control.

I stated in that open letter that "We need a government that works and a congress that can take action. We do not need elected officials held captive by a gun lobby that speaks for the gun-making industry rather than for gun owners (No one believes that the NRA got all those millions of dollars to lobby from membership fees)."

Yet again we must ask why we as a society are so willing to let so many citizens die in mass shootings, and why we continue to offer up our children to our own modern day fires of Moloch.

Gun Violence in America

Moreover he burnt incense in the valley of Ben Hinnom, and burnt his children in the fire, after the abominations of the heathen whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel.

                                                                                                                  2 Chronicles 28:3

And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of Ben Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination

                                                                                                                  Jeremiah 32:35

Illustration from Foster Bible Pictures
Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons 

Moloch was the ancient Phoenician and Canaanite god known in the Old Testament Book of Deuteronomy for the practice of propitiatory child sacrifice.  There are few images more horrifying than that of fearful people offering up their own children to be burned on the altar of a domineering death-making god. Yet in our helplessness in confronting our devotion to guns, we are seeing the fires of Moloch burning in 21^st century America.

We have seen this week yet another disturbing incident of promising lives brought to a sudden end by gun violence. Once again there is talk of stronger gun control laws. Will we be once again impotent when it comes to making any real changes? Our failure to act even in the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre  in which 20 young children were killed, all of them 6 and 7 years old, demonstrated that we would rather sacrifice our beautiful preschoolers than do anything that might be perceived as a desecration of the Bill of Rights. Our words say that we honor American freedom, while our actions say that we live in fear and have so little regard for our children that we will willingly feed them to our modern day fires of Moloch. [To see a map of all the mass shooting since Sandy Hook, go here]

In a country whose politicians love to shout “God Bless America!” at the end of their speeches, and whose people speak of faith in the public square and argue about putting the Ten Commandments on display, it is the ancient and brutal god Moloch who holds sway over so much of our public discourse. Indeed the fires of Moloch continue to consume our children while nothing is done to extinguish those flames.

Why Do We Tolerate Death and Glorify Violence?

According to The Brady Center, “Over 18,000 American children and teens are injured or killed each year due to gun violence. This means nearly 48 youth are shot every day, including 7 fatalities.” 

And here are some more statistics from The Brady Center:

America has a problem with gun violence

·         One in three people in the U.S. know someone who has been shot.

·         On average, 31 Americans are murdered with guns every day and 151 are treated for a gun assault in an emergency room.

·         Every day on average, 55 people kill themselves with a firearm, and 46 people are shot or killed in an accident with a gun.

·         The U.S. firearm homicide rate is 20 times higher than the combined rates of 22 countries that are our peers in wealth and population.

·         A gun in the home is 22 times more likely to be used to kill or injure in a domestic homicide, suicide, or unintentional shooting than to be used in self-defense.

Gun Violence Takes a Massive Toll on American Children

·         More than one in five U.S. teenagers (ages 14 to 17) report having witnessed a shooting.

·         An average of seven children and teens under the age of 20 are killed by guns every day.

·         American children die by guns 11 times as often as children in other high-income countries.

·         Youth (ages 0 to 19) in the most rural U.S. counties are as likely to die from a gunshot as those living in the most urban counties. Rural children die of more gun suicides and unintentional shooting deaths. Urban children die more often of gun homicides.

·         Firearm homicide is the second-leading cause of death (after motor vehicle crashes) for young people ages 1-19 in the U.S.

·         In 2007, more pre-school-aged children (85) were killed by guns than police officers were killed in the line of duty.

Gun Violence is a Drain on U.S. Taxpayers

·         Medical treatment, criminal justice proceedings, new security precautions, and reductions in quality of life are estimated to cost U.S. citizens $100 billion annually.

·         The lifetime medical cost for all gun violence victims in the United States is estimated at $2.3 billion, with almost half the costs borne by taxpayers.

Americans Support Universal Background Checks

·         Nine out of 10 Americans agree that we should have universal background checks, including three out of four NRA members.

·         Since the Brady Law was initially passed, about 2 million attempts to purchase firearms have been blocked due to a background check. About half of these blocked attempts were by felons.

·         Unfortunately, our current background check system only applies to about 60% of gun sales, leaving 40% (online sales, purchases at gun shows, etc.) without a background check.

One question we must answer is why does our society so quickly come to the defense of guns after every deadly incident of gun violence? There are those who call for change, but such calls are always met with a push back from people who cannot tolerate any change in our gun laws. Lawmakers are forever paralyzed by the gun lobbyists and the fear-mongers.

Freedom or Fear?

Why are our citizens and our politicians are unable to put a stop to gun violence? If there were the political will, assault rifles and semi-automatic weapons could be banned tomorrow. The sad fact is, however, that our people seem to be too fearful to consider a peaceful society. We say that we are honoring the Second Amendment to the Constitution – that we hold the Bill of Rights to ensure our freedom – but the truth is, we live in fear. Why else would we be so powerless to stop our current practice of sacrificing children to the fires of gun violence?

Poster from The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence

Picture depicting worship of Moloch from The Jewish Encyclopedia

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America's Slow Dance with Death

Photo by AK Rockefeller (Courtesy of Flickr)

“The Deadliest Mass Shooting in U.S. History”– that was the headline in yesterday morning’s news reporting the shooting in Las Vegas. The sad thing is that we have seen that headline before. The numbers just keep getting larger. Every time there is an incident, the cries go out that something must be done, yet we seem incapable for finding a remedy. For some reason we appear to be in a long slow dance with death, unwilling to loose ourselves from its grip.

Living with Guns

I have written many essays on this blog speaking out against gun violence. Two examples are “Guns and the (Dystopian) State,” and “The Fires of Molech are (Still) Burning.” Reasonable people across the country have spoken out against the senseless shootings that we see, yet our congress remains paralyzed.

When President Obama nominated Merrick Garland for the Supreme Court during his last year in office, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s response was quite telling. He said that the Republican majority would not confirm any Supreme Court Justice nominee without the NRA’s approval. Herein lies a problem, that our government is hamstrung by the NRA.

Last year, The Guardian published a five-series on gun violence in America that is worth noting:

• Can the US break its cycle of gun control failure?
• America's gun problem is so much bigger than mass shootings
• The uncomfortable truth about gun rights supporters – sometimes they are right
• Changing the Conversation

In the second article in the series, The Guardian points out that though mass shootings get the most attention, they are not the greatest problem. “The US could end all mass shootings today,” the writer states,  “and its rates of gun violence would still be many times higher than other rich countries.”

Doing What We Can

I don’t know the source of the following letter, but it has been shared on Facebook as a template for writing your congressmen to urge that the legislative body do something to curb gun violence.  

This morning's news brings the latest US gun tragedy. 50 Americans are dead and 200 more hurt in the 273rd mass shooting so far this year. The killer was not a foreign terrorist, but an angry white American man with easy access to weapons. He was locked in a hotel room with his guns. No "good guy with a gun" in the crowd could have saved the lives that were lost.

It was likely the sound of gunfire that alerted many, probably saving the lives of those who were able to scramble to safety. Two bills moving through the House would lift restrictions on gun silencers, legalize sale of armor piercing bullets, and strip from States the right to make their own laws regarding concealed weapons by allowing people from States with lesser restrictions to legally carry across State lines. These outrageous proposals will make it even easier for those so inclined to attack and kill your constituents.

The nation's lawmakers must stop kowtowing to the NRA. No amount of campaign contributions or election pressure is worth the continued, senseless loss of lives. Please vote against these measures, and begin to work instead to strengthen laws to improve safety and protect Americans from gun violence.

Why are we unable to break this stranglehold of gun violence? Finding our way back from this death-making dystopia should be our continued resolve.  



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