Gun Control and How We're Missing the Point

This post is going to be a little different than what I usually write on this blog, but I do like keeping up with politics and writing about it so you may see more of it in the future.

The awful shooting at the elementary school in Newton, Connecticut has relight the fire of the gun control debate. The murder of so many people, mostly children, was horrific and naturally generated very emotional reactions. People have been protesting at the White House, media has been reporting on it non-stop, and politicians are struggling to qualm the emotional tide.
One protester's sign really caught my eye, however, especially because he was waving it in front of the NRA [National Rifle Association] vice president while he was speaking in a press conference this morning.



First, I thought of how disrespectful it was for someone to do that, then I realized how ridiculous this whole thing was. The NRA has had some pretty intense backlash from the country because of their, obvious, stance on gun control and weapons. But how someone could actually believe that they were to blame in any way in the Connecticut shooting is beyond me.
Throughout this situation, the NRA has been very respectful and hasn't lashed back at people who blamed them for the shooting. This morning's press conference contained ideas that were logical and level headed. And I think that they addressed what media and politicians should have been debating about this entire time: school protection.
When I heard about the shooting, my thoughts were not "how did he get a gun?" but "how did he get in?" How did someone enter a school during the day with guns and malicious intent?
Wayne LaPierre, the vice president of the NRA, voiced a plan for school protection, calling "on Congress to immediately appropriate money to put armed officiers in every school in America." -USA Today
Personally, I think that it is a good idea, although it is strongly opposed by most of the country. LaPierre asks though, "Why is the use of a gun [good] when it's asked to be used to protect the president or used by the police, but bad when it's used to protect children?"
The problem is that this issue is very emotional and risky. Having guns around children is concerning to many parents, but I do think that it could make schools safer as long as they are in the hands of well trained guards.
The NRA addressed many other links to violent shootings, such as video games and media coverage, which you can read a summary of here.
When we're faced with situations like this, however, I think that the media, the people, and the politicians of this country have a responsibility to react in a less emotional way. The media especially has been fueling this fire and has reported many of the facts wrong. It's frustrating because we all want to have well thought out ideas. Of course this debate is emotional; there have been so many shootings that have taken innocent lives. But the wrong reaction is to jump on the NRA or gun owners. Guns are not responsible for the crimes that evil or sick people commit.

-Meaghan

PS - I would encourage you to read the transcript of the press conference from this morning if you can! There were some really good thoughts expressed, as I mention before. [read here]

The Problem with Gossip

We've probably all heard the saying "never judge a person until you've walked a mile in their shoes". Basically, that we have no place to judge what a person is going through because we aren't going through it ourselves. I've always loved this quote because it addressed a problem that every person faces in their life: gossip. It's so easy to pass on that little observation about someone. Unfortunately, though, our 'observations' are often so wrong.

In the past few weeks I've realized how wrong I've been about some of the people around me. I've realized how much I've misunderstood them, and while I hadn't gossiped about them, I had misjudged them in my mind [which is just as bad]. The fact is, we can never know what people are going through and for us to do anything but help them when they are going through a difficult time is wrong. 

People go through painful and horrible things and instead of coming alongside them, we have a tendency to judge them. In doing so, we make their situation so much harder. We wonder why suicide is such a high trend in teens and young adults; we wonder why depression is running rampant; we wonder why people have so many fears, when we are our own problems. 

Imagine if you could openly talk about the issues you were having, without the fear of rejection from the people around you? And I know that fear is often unfounded and that it is a tool Satan will use to stop us from having freedom, but Satan is using the attitudes we have as a Christian society against us. 

From my own personal experience and in talking to friends, I can see how much fear has hurt us and held us back. Fear of rejection is very hard to overcome because our deepest desire as human beings is to be loved and accepted. Many of us have had experiences with gossip and being misunderstood and it's a hard place to be, especially when close friends and family members put us there. So hard that we will avoid it at any cost. So often this leads to much deeper issues... holding things in is never a good solution. 

What's missing is unconditional love and understanding. Unconditional love is very hard for us to grasp because we're not perfect and our tendency is to compare ourselves to others and then judge when people don't appear to measure up. Although impossible for us to have all of the time, it is pretty self-explanatory. Deciding to love people unconditionally is saying that you are going to love people despite what they've done. 

Understanding is being willing to look past what you immediately see and look deeper. It's too easy to just look at people and their actions, we must look in them in order to begin to understand. And even if you cannot understand what they're going through, you still don't have the place to judge. It goes back to love. 

We're all people; it shouldn't be so complicated, but it is! No matter how many times God teaches me this lesson I still find myself learning it again and again. We have a tendency to judge and misunderstand people. We have to start making life easier for the people around us; some people are really hurting and we are only making their lives more difficult. 

-Meaghan