We usually don’t hear about them until there is such a horrific incident that grabs our attention – but just for a day or two. Usually, it’s only one or two persons killed in a domestic incident, more than 11,000 over the last 18 months. Yes, last week we heard about the former Lt. Governor of Virginia killing his wife and then himself. But now, it’s just last week’s story of another incident involving guns.
Yesterday we riveted our attention on the murder of eight children, and attempting to kill their mother. The killer, the father of seven, a man who in spite of prior firearms arrest was able to get a gun. But Congress, citing the Second Amendment, will continue to let any enraged person get a gun to kill.
So what does Mike Johnson, that stalwart of Constitutional protections --- except when it comes to the President – have to say? “Heartbreaking,” and he’ll go on to defend the gun industry and the right of any person to have a gun to kill. Just ask the NRA and other so-called “sportsman” groups how much they continue to give to him.
Prayer for the Day
God, we cry, when will it end, the cycle of gun violence,
Murders by those angered by separation and divorce?
God, we cry, why can any person, even those with prior arrests,
Why can they get guns to kill and maim even more?
Shake us loose from our preoccupation with so-called rights,
Shake us into realizing what we are doing to ourselves!
In the name of the One who calls us to action,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
All of us should be outraged that we live in a country that routinely subjects our kids to such unimaginable violence. Our children have no option but to trust us to keep them safe, but our country is failing them every day.
Gabrielle Giffords, former U.S. Rep, shot at a 2011 rally
Thoughts and prayers won’t stop a speeding bullet.
DeShanne Stokes, sociologist, writer
O Lord, who may abide in your tent? Who may dwell on your holy hill?
Those who walk blamelessly, and do what is right,
And speak the truth from their heart;
Who do not slander with their tongue, and od no evil to their friends,
Nor take up a reproach against their neighbors,
In whose eyes the wicked are despised
But who honor those who fear the Lord,
Who stand by their oath even to their heart
Psalm 15: 1-4