Heart Disease Leads to Gun Violence:
What is at the core of our actions? Where do our actions flow from? When we are faced with some challenging scenario ,what causes us to respond with a kind word or harsh word? When someone cuts us off in traffic or pulls out in front of us, why do some of us have fits of road rage and others just let a person pass?
Actions emanate from a place deep within us. A reaction to an incident flows first from our heart attaching perception and emotion to it and then it is expressed in a certain set of actions. Our words or tongue reveal what is truly in our heart and mind. We can restrain our actions, react with impulsiveness, or premeditate with a plan to harm someone. In all cases, it is a choice of will. Our decision making process can be hijacked. For example, if we are too young to have that part of our brain developed that affects and influences our judgment or if something has impaired that judgment ability. Mental illness, substance abuse, and lack of a conscience (related to extreme forms of mental illness such as anti social behavior) are conditions that hinder judgment ability and therefore improper responses.
Most problems we face as a culture are so complex that there is no magic or silver bullet that will fix it. It takes many people coming together from various view points, understanding, context, and more to find a set of parameters and principles that make sense for the good and well being of all involved to make informed and holistic decisions. But it is certainly possible and doable. Unfortunately, we seem to have a need to polarize and speak in the terms of either/or instead of both/and. It is severely hindering our judgment and ability to develop some common sense set of rules and guidelines as a society.
This being said, I believe that heart disease leads to gun violence. Yes, it is causative. Unlike the research correlations that indicated that the states in our nation with higher gun laws have less gun deaths which is a correlation not causation, my hypothesis is causative. What do I mean by heart disease? I do not mean the physical type that comes from poor diets or lack of exercise. This heart disease is much deeper. It is the heart disease that no longer values and regards life, even the person’s own life. It helps explain why of all the gun deaths in the US in 2013, 66% were from suicide (to include the mass shootings) while 33% were from homicides. The other 1% were from law enforcement incidents and accidents.
Bottom line, somewhere in our culture and over time, we have lost our ability to value human life. It starts with abortion, grows into our forms of entertainment that pursues violence, our desire to control people, and ends with our hunger for war to solve our problems and nonchalantly obliterating thousands of people at a time. It is accepting “collateral damage” as just part of the process. I guess that is all good and fine until I am the collateral damage and it is my family member, loved one, or friend who dies or is maimed for life.
So, what am I saying? When we do not value human life-even our own, when we are obsessed with our self and our individual rights even at the expense of others, when violence becomes the norm for addressing our problems, when exploitation of people is shrugged off as part of the human condition, then we have recipe for disaster and we are seeing it played out all too often in our nation.
What does that have to do with guns? Guns make it too easy to kill another person or commit suicide. Military studies on war indicate that the more distance we have from our adversary and the less physical contact we have with them in terms of proximity, the easier it is to inflict a fatal wound. In terms of bombing, to even inflict mass casualties. Bayonet’s were never very effective and Soldiers would opt to let a person go or turn away than have to stab them to death. So, the theory that if we did not have guns we would just find another way to inflict violence is not true nor substantiated through research. Homicides and suicides would not likely to manifest at an equal rate if access to guns were severely minimized. The research simply does not support that claim.
It saddens me, knowing these simple facts and with another horrific shooting, that we cannot make some simple, common sense decisions. First, we need to reclaim our value of human life and that means looking at all the ways we devalue it. If our lust for individual rights over “loving our neighbor as ourselves, and treating others as we want to be treated” is not checked, tempered, and challenged, we will continue to go down this destructive path. It is an issue of character, values, and the heart. This will actually be more difficult as changing our heart has serious ramifications-and yet it is what is needed most.
But sense that is significantly more difficult, taking those set of character and heart factors of a devalued view of human life and continuing to make it easy for us to use a tool that has one purpose, to kill, will only continue to march us down the path of easy suicide and homicide inflicted by guns. And yet, we do not have to make this an either/or solution. It is a both/and solution. The 2nd amendment does not have to be minimized and I am extremely supportive of hunters and those who feel they need a gun for safety or just like target practice having access to one as long as he or she is a law abiding citizen who is trained to use them. No problem. I have used guns for a great part of my life.
But here is a thought, before we put people behind the wheel of a car to learn to get from point A to point B, we train them and we license them. Why? Because a vehicle not used properly is dangerous and if we do not follow laws, we will hurt other people and ourselves. And what is the purpose of a vehicle? To move us from point A to point B. And yes, we could misuse our vehicle and intentionally hurt someone with it and there are certainly cases for that. But that is not the primary intent of using a vehicle.
What is the purpose of a gun? Why was it designed? For one purpose and one purpose alone. To kill. Whether in the early days of hunting, for use in war, or for protection, it was developed for one sole function. Be it hunting an “animal” or protecting ourselves from an “animal” the ultimate aim is to kill. We seem to have forgotten that. (I do realize there are always exceptions such as tranquilizer guns and noise to scare something away.) So, if it only has one purpose, then why would we not have the same type of training, licensing and protective measures as we might a car or some other form of machinery? It just does not make sense.
It also does not make sense for politicians to advocate that in order for me to protect myself from potential gun violence then I need to invest in a gun. That is one of the worst forms of logic I have ever heard. I don’t want to be in a theater and then have six people pull guns to be heroes because of a potential threat. Knowing even the skill/aim level of some of the Soldiers I serve with who are trained to use a gun-it makes me cringe. It shows how off course we are.
So, to land this plane. We need to stop this polarization of either/or and start making better decisions that allows for the freedom to own a gun to be maintained but to also limit its ability to get into the hands of people who will potentially abuse it and use it to harm others or themselves. Even more so, it is time for more focus on evaluating our heart and learning to love human life again. We have made it too easy to hurt each other and we glamorize it throughout our media venues all too often. Without this check on “heart disease” and some common sense in the venues of things like guns and violence, I feel we will continue down this path. I pray we have the courage to check both.
“Do not be conformed to the patterns of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind”
“For we are fearfully and wonderfully made”
* Gun statistics were taken from the CDC website. The Military weaponry reference was from a journal article I had to read for a class in military studies. I don’t have the reference but can find it if necessary.
—This post is my personal opinion and does not represent the position of Alabama Rural Ministry, its staff, or board members— Lisa Pierce- Director
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