Gun control????

I don't normally write about politically charged things here on my blog.  But today I'm ready to make an exception.  I'm not planning to follow any specific party line.  I'm going to tell you my own personal conviction about guns, what I understand to be legitimate uses of them, and then ask if any of you have some practical suggestions to help solve what has become a dangerous problem in our country.

First of all, I personally don't like guns.  They were designed for one reason, and that is to kill, or at the very least to threaten and intimidate.  I also don't like having poison around for some of the same reasons.  Ditto, mouse traps.  I just don't like having objects designed to kill around me, although I realize that there are legitimate reasons for owning and using lethal-intention items (and I'm referring to products targeting both animals and people here).  They're just not for me, if I can help it.

However, I know that many people like to use guns for sport.  Shooting at the target range is a fun hobby.  And some people like collecting guns, because they are into history.  Also, some people hunt for the purpose of feeding their families more healthfully and more humanely.  And, unfortunately, guns have become a necessary part of law enforcement and military forces around the world.  I wish there were no need for law enforcement and soldiers to have firepower, but I don't deny that it's mandatory.

There is a thought floating around that guns don't kill people, people kill people.  And there's that billboard that I'm sure we've all seen recently which says, "Cain killed Abel with a rock.  It's a heart problem, not a gun problem.  Jeremiah 17:9"  And frankly, I can't agree more!

(I do want to point out a couple of differences between rocks and guns, though.  Rocks were designed by God as part of our planet, and also, as part of many other planets and heavenly bodies.  Because they are God's creation, they are inherently beautiful.  We can learn about geology and paleontology from them.  Also, we can use rocks for many constructive purposes - roads, buildings, and bridges to name some obvious ones.  On the other hand, guns were invented by humans after the Fall.  They are engineered, some better than others, for the purpose of hitting a target and doing great damage to it - basically to injure or kill.)

That aside, I think we also all agree that we live in a society filled with people who have heart problems.  I am one of them.  Even the best of us have some pretty nasty moments.

So now I am imagining I am sitting in a church, or standing in line at the post office, or enjoying some entertainment at the theater, or studying in a classroom, or out to dinner with my family.  And someone with a heart problem shows up.  Not just any heart problem.  Specifically a murderous rage of a heart problem.  Do I wish that the person had a rock or a gun?  Well, frankly neither.  I also wish that the person didn't have a blanket, a piece of wire, a chair, a crowbar, a knife, or even bare hands.  However, if I were forced to pick, I'd pick the rock over the gun every time.  That's because if someone is planning on mass killings in public, they may not have even finished off their first victim with a rock before getting jumped.  Depending on the type of gun (and maybe this is where we should all think carefully), the killer could knock off a whole host of people in a few seconds before being neutralized.  If I have to pick between one dead and fifteen dead, I'd rather pick no one dead.  But if I'm forced to make that choice, I'd go with one over the fifteen.

And if I had to pick one dead, I'd hope it was me rather than the other fifteen, because although a bloody death is NOT my dream, I know I can trust the Lord for a beautiful future in a resurrected body, and I'd like to create every opportunity for someone else to live long enough to know the wonder of Jesus, too.

The upshot of all that is that certain types of guns make mass killings much more possible than other types of weapons commonly available do.

So are mass shootings just going to be the norm now?  Maybe.  Seems like it.

Here are some statistics to consider.  I culled these from the Washington Post, and I learned quite a few things while doing it.  The number next to each country is the number of gun homicides per 100,000 people.

Honduras  68.43
El Salvador 39.9
Venezuela 38.97
Guatemala 38.41
St. Kitts and Nevis 32.44
Trinidad and Tobago 27.31
Columbia 27.09
Belize 21.82

That list turns out to mostly be countries in Central America with major humanitarian crises going on, where people are literally dying to escape to more civilized countries like the US.  In some places armed gangs have taken over the government.  Definitely we don't want to be like them.

Puerto Rico 18.3
Brazil 18.1
South Africa 17.03
Dominican Republic 16.3
Panama 16.18
Bahamas 15.37
Ecuador 12.73
Guyana 11.46
Mexico 9.97
Philipines 8.93
Paraguay 7.35
Anguilla 7.14
Nicaragua 5.92
St. Vincent and the Grenadines 5.49
Zimbabwe 4.78
Costa Rica 4.59

So that's a list of the middle countries.  It's a list of places we consider to be very inequitable, and many of them unsafe, although some of them have great "safe zones" for tourists.  These are all places we do lots of mission work and humanitarian aid.  Don't want the US to be on that list either.

Here are some countries with the fewest gun deaths per 100,000 people:

Iceland 0
Hong Kong 0
Japan 0.01
Singapore 0.02
South Korea 0.03
Norway 0.05
France 0.06
England and Wales 0.07
Israel 0.09
Australia 0.14
New Zealand 0.16
Germany 0.19
Spain 0.2
Austria 0.22
Northern Ireland 0.28
Sweden 0.41
Finland 0.45
Canada 0.51
Italy 0.71

This list of countries has a wide variety of cultures, and differing types of governments, and all kinds of middling to high GDP's, they have some of the lowest gun homicide rates in the world.  And mostly they are countries which we think of as orderly, well educated, advanced, safe, and pleasant places to live.

Here is a list which contains the US and countries with relatively similar gun homicide rates:

United States of America 3.2
Argentina 3.02
Barbados 2.99
West Bank and Gaza 2.95
Liechtenstein 2.82
Uruguay 2.8
Peru 2.63
Sierra Leone 2.28
Peru 1.63
Maldives 1.63
Democratic Republic of Congo 1.56
Cambodia 1.44
Kazakhstan 1.34

Ok, so I'm not "place-ist", but it does seem that the US and Liechtenstein are outliers on this list.  Most of these places we don't associate with equity, well-being, easy access to healthcare, or great advances in the arts and sciences...  And it's worth noting that the gun homicide rate in the US is twice that of Peru.  So although the numbers look close, you're actually twice as likely to be murdered at gunpoint here than in Peru.

I realize this is a very complex issue with spiritual, moral, ethical, religious, social, societal, cultural, and political components.

I hope that you're not happy with the US gun homicide rate.  And I hope that you have some ideas in any of the aforementioned realms about working for improvement.  I don't want to hear party rhetoric from either side, but I do want to hear honest and creative thoughts from you.

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June, the next installment

Anne was quite interested in Jeff's rolling backpack, so he let her pull it to the playground and back.

Swinging with Linda

Jeff helped her get some wood chips out of her shoe.

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A late night sunset from our parking lot

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Anne took this photo of the picturesque location in the Columbia Gorge of cousin Emily's summer solstice wedding.

Anne made a little friend.

Bubbles!

Aunt Julie made all the decorations.

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Beautiful Oregon sky

Helping Grandma plant and water flowers

Also, we had Jared with us for a wonderful six days before he took off again.  I won't lie - Anne and I did pretty well on our own for two teaching weeks, but at the ends of the days when I was trying to get Anne and cats and myself ready for bed, my patience got pretty short.  

Anne's been spending quite a bit of time on the phone with her imaginary friends, Naji, Jaja, and Boomvee.  Especially Jaja.  And she likes for me to talk with Jaja as well while we're driving:  "Ma - talk 'a Jaja.  Tell her 'bout..."  And sometimes when I give her choices between two things, she tells me Boomvee is going to decide.  And then after a few moments, Anne delivers Boomvee's verdict to me.

I did a recording project this last Wednesday, for which I actually had to be in shape with the violin, so I took to carrying Jean's violin with us to the park and using the top of the stroller as a music stand while Anne ran around, in order to 1) keep her on an even keel and 2) get me the fiddle time I needed.  And also, you know that everyone else in the park really needed some Keyser and Mazas etudes in their lives... (Some people pollute the air with tobacco and marijuana; I polluted it with student violin studies.) The recording project went well - it involved me playing some rhythm violin and doing various levels of improv on a few different tunes.  Hopefully some day I'll get to hear the final result.

Leaping forward, glancing backward

That's what Anne has been doing.  Some of these pictures ended up sideways no matter what I did, so I guess you'll just have to cock your head to see them.

Packing herself in Daddy's suitcase before he left for Chicago

Out back with her two best buddies from upstairs.  Someone had thrown away a sofa, and some of the children rescued the seat cushions and they were used for all kinds of activities for a week before the maintainence found them and tossed them.

One of her favorite activities is: "Drive in 'a driver's seat by yourself."

Anne is surrounded by a swirl of Arabic activity.

Showing Linda things at the park

Swinging with Jeff and Daddy

She arranged the mattress from the doll bed, the pillow, the teddy, and herself, then said, "Ma, cubber you up wif 'a bwankie."

Trying out the old baby crib she hardly used.  "Mama, take a picture!"

 I asked her to put unload the cat food cans into the cabinet.  First, she helped her Baneen Barbie methodically unload them into a row on the floor.  Then she methodically helped her Baneen Barbie stack them in the cabinet.

I dressed her in her cowgirl outfit.

She switched to the non-matching plaid.

Feeding the cat!

Way up north...

That's the start of an Allison Krauss song.  I've often felt there was something special about heading north.  To me it means snow.  It means changing landscape.  It means a different culture.  It means long summer days and long winter nights.  It has an element of magic to it.

Saturday morning at 6:30 Anne and I headed north on I-5, and before long we were further north on that road than I had ever been before.  And it was magical.  We went all the way to Vancouver, B.C. where we went to Sabbath School at Anne's request and then met up with Amy and her parents.  We spent the day at Stanley Park.  It was likely the warmest day of the year in Vancouver, and everyone else was there, too, especially on the beaches.  Anne's favorite part was jumping in the waves and digging in the sand.  She was distraught to leave the sand and water behind.

We watched a very skilled man who was balancing these rocks.

Lagoon

Totems

 Sea plane

Wildlife included cormorants, herons, and bald eagles, along with the usual ducks and geese.

After dinner we drove back to Bellingham and spent the night with cousin Jan.  Sunday morning we wandered around the marina area and stopped in a tiny sea museum.

The fortuitous thing about the trip was that last Sunday evening, my dad mentioned that you need special documentation to take a minor across the border when only one parent was present, so we had Monday to get that taken care of before Jared left for two weeks in Chicago.

I was exhausted from managing the trip, not sleeping enough, too much sun, and the heat, so I attempted to take a nap on the sofa when we got home while Anne played.  I must have lost consciousness for at least a few minutes, as at some point I was surprised to see two shoes, the metronome, and a doll lined up on the couch next to me as well as several crackers strewn about the living room.