There was yet another gun shooting incident this time in a church in a small town of population 10500.
The argument is hardly ever convincing -- of their claims of grown-ups can have the right to get armed and without the right, the government is almost like treating citizens as "minor". How could it be that the possession of guns can be justified simply because the owner is diagnosed as a healthy adult?
Anyone in the right mind should understand there are critical moments in the life of an individual when the situation gets out of ones hand that s/he gets desperate. To know that is an understanding of human being, an essential step toward civilization and humanity. Knowing that and to set rules of gun possession is not the way to treat citizens as minor but as a human being capable of living under God's orders -- or simply as a humble being.
It seems to be a well known fact that the gun control issue was a lost cause of the election some time ago. But the problem must be addressed in some way -- the death toll of more than 10,000 is just too much for ordinary citizens of a developed country which claims to have better systems that work.
The possession of a gun works much the same way as naming an individual as a dictator. Guns give too much power to an individual just as dictatorship and monarchy do. Just as all the kings and queens, or the emperors claim that they could do things for the public, the gun owners claim that they use the power in a justifiable manner. The glorification of the use of a gun is like the past glory of the monarchy. But the history tells you something quite different. The honorable kings and queens, and emperors did something for them or themselves more often than for the public. To ask those in power to be otherwise, is simply too much. There should be laws and orders that govern all, for the public, just as the use of guns should be discussed before their use and that should be set by a law.
All safety measures, such as "fool-proof" equipments, is a sign of intelligence and that is what is most notable in the teachings of the American technology that has brought to us after the WWII. The tools that any can use, has been subject to ridicule of the experts who have been doing the jobs for years -- it is just too easy to use dishwashers, dryers, Java, and even cars that we make. And they are such an advancement technology that changed our lives entirely. Now it turned out to be that the life in the States is not too easy. Why must we be experts of crimes? The way of life should be "fool-proof" and any can live without the knowledge of criminal activities.
Let us pray here for the victims of the shooting, and let us hope that the time will come when the gun control is the norm and not the other way around.
→ 教会で銃乱射、聖職者ら３人殺害 米ミズーリ州 (2007-8-14)
