ALL Violence Sucks

In an email sent to me several weeks ago, a woman asked why I was what she termed “pro-guns.”  It got me thinking…

I’m not “pro-gun”….I’m pro-freedom.  The difference is that I don’t think everyone should own a gun, but that those who want to own a gun should have the right to do so.  I believe in the Right to Bear Arms.

As I’ve stated in previous blogs, with what feels like ever-growing violence in our world, perhaps certain restrictions on gun ownership makes sense.  I don’t pretend to have any answers as to what restrictions would be appropriate, other than the fact that I don’t believe anyone outside of our military personnel needs to own an automatic assault weapon.  No one needs to have the ability to rapidly gun down innocent bystanders in theatres, schools or anywhere else.

Gun violence sucks…but the truth is ALL violence sucks.

Last week in England a British soldier was hacked to death with a machete in the middle of the street.  A couple weeks ago an Oregon high school student was arrested because he constructed his own bombs and had plans to blow up his school.  Last year a little girl named Jessica was kidnapped and murdered with a knife.  Every month, women and children are removed from their homes and placed in shelters because they are abused by their boyfriends, husbands, fathers, uncles, brothers, etc.  Years ago, a woman intentionally ran over her husband several times with her car.  Sadly, I could cite example after example…

The truth is violence begins in the heart.  A gun is as useless as a knife, a machete, a bomb, a car and a fist if there is no violence and hatred in the heart of the person holding it.  Guns are taking a bad rap right now, but they are merely a symptom of the real problem.  Hatred and insanity drive violent acts.

Hatred causes a person to plan to kill innocent people.  Insanity causes a person to slaughter children.  The weapon isn’t to blame, the people are to blame. 

If we remove every gun from the planet, do you believe murder will cease to exist?  Murder existed long before guns were ever invented.  Killing comes from the heart and a killer will use whatever weapon is at his or her disposal if he really wants to carry out a violent plan. 

In the olden days people were burned at the stake, stoned to death, hung and poisoned.  Should we outlaw matches, rope and rocks?

On the flip side, I state again, I don’t believe anyone outside of our military personnel should have access to automatic assault weapons.  Until we can identify and control “crazy” these weapons should not be mainstream.  Until we can rid our world of hate, everything and anything can be a weapon of violence.

I’m not “pro-gun”…I’m pro-freedom and pro-love…because only love can change the world and until it changes, no one is truly safe.  Why then should I sacrifice my right to bear arms to protect myself and my family when the violent, hate-filled hearts of the criminally insane are still rampant among us?  That’s a risk I cannot take. 

 

See, guns take lives but they also save lives.  ~

 

Me...In A Nutshell

“Where does a person go to fit in when those of her own faith judge her to be too pagan and worldly?”

I saw this quote on a Facebook status the other day and it stuck with me.  Maybe it’s because it is the story of my life and the constant pondering of my soul.  You see, the greatest judgments in my life have come from those that share my faith, but do not share my religion because, as it would seem, I have none.

There is a vast difference between religion and relationship and I truly believe that God doesn’t care what religion you practice as long as you have a relationship with Him.  I believe He wants you to know Him and love Him as much as He loves you.  Does it matter if you worship the Almighty on a mountaintop or in a pew?  No.  It only matters that you worship Him.

Hate and violence stir our nation, and they stem from one source…judgment.  Mother Teresa said, “If you’re judging someone you are too busy to love them.”  There are countless verses in the Bible that speak against judging others.  The reason for this emphasis is that judgment stems from a spirit of hatefulness masked in an evangelical motive of purity labeled “God’s Agenda.”

But it is wrong.

 

The world may end in judgment, but the agenda of the Most High is one of love first, followed by mercy and compassion. Put your hate signs down.  Stop your condemnation of others.  If you need to point a finger go look in the mirror. Fight against the enemy, not against one another.  Who IS the enemy?  Hate is the enemy and it shows itself in the form of judgment derived from pseudo-godly arrogance and elitism.

Let me pose an odd question:  How many atheists are judging others for their beliefs or lifestyle choices? 

Now, I’m not saying I think people should become atheists.  I’m merely pointing out that somewhere along the line it seems that the "religious" people have picked up the torch of hate and have begun terrorizing the villagers and burning the towns…all in the name of God, which is ironic since God is love, not hate. 

Love is the most powerful influence in the world, and its counterpart, Hate, is the most destructive weapon known to mankind.  It starts in the heart and is fed by arrogance until it finally manifests itself in an act of violence against others.  "I'm right and you're wrong," is the foundation of judgment.  "I hold the truth and you are deceived," is the foundation of judgment.  Judgment, fed by arrogance and elitsim results in hateful actions, some of which can manifest violently.

I may not have a “religion” that those who share my faith can understand; but I have a relationship with God.  You won’t see me in church every Sunday, because quite frankly, I don’t always feel close to God while I’m in church.  You won’t find me handing out tracks, putting ‘Life’ tape over my lips or holding a sign that says ‘God hates homosexuality.’  I refuse to cast judgment on anyone else.  I'm not "right" and I don't hold a "truth" that isn't available to anyone else.  Thus, it isn’t my place to spew forth judment and frankly, I don’t want to carry the hatefulness that accompanies judgment in my heart. 

Hate destroys.  Whether you use a gun, a bomb, a knife, a rope, a sign or your words…hate brings about destruction; internal and external.  And if you are invoking judgment and destruction in the name of God or under the guise of His agenda, shame on you.  Shame, shame, shame on you.

I once had a fellow Christian scoff at me and say, “Well, how many people have you led to Christ?”  I didn’t answer, for it was none of her business.  That answer is between me and God.  I should have asked her, “How many people have you chased away from Christ with your judgmental arrogance and hateful elitism?”  That is the real question.

People of my faith don’t always like me…and I’m learning that that’s okay.  God likes me and He loves me and my faith is established in HIM alone and not the man-made, religious rules that cause damage to others.  Jesus said to love others, not judge them.  "Love your neighbor as yourself."

Would you stand in your own yard with 'Life' tape on your mouth?  Would you stand in your own yard holding a "God hates ME" sign?  Would you treat yourself the way you are treating the rest of the world who doesn't agree with you?

I might be nuts, but in the words of Gladys from the Ellen Show, “I love Jesus, but I drink a little.”  J  That’s me in a nutshell.  ~

Bureaucratic Bullshit

The gun debate is raging among political parties.  What I find fascinating is that at the foundation of their efforts lies common ground.  Everyone wants to make the world a safer, better place.  That’s the heart of the people.  Somewhere along the line we get wrapped up and even trapped in the bureaucratic bullshit of it all, but I truly believe both sides want the same thing.  Safety.

 

How do we get there?

As I analyze the issue I find myself perplexed.  We cannot throw away the 2^nd Amendment, as we are a nation built on our freedoms, one of which is the right to bear arms.  I believe we deserve that right.  However… worldwide, we are the nation with the highest gun-related deaths, which means we have a problem that needs to be rectified.  It’s not okay for thousands of Americans to die every year at the hand of a trigger.

A greater issue on the table is the fear that if we alter something in the Constitution, where does that altering end?  Could it lead to us losing more of our rights and freedoms?

Tom Clemens was murdered on Tuesday night at his home.  He was the head of the Colorado Department of Corrections and said to be a decent, hardworking man of integrity.  He was 58 years old and had a wife and two daughters.  A gunman came to his front door and when Tom answered it, he shot and killed him. Full Story Here.

This is unacceptable.

If you’ve read my previous blogs, you know that I believe in an American’s right to bear arms.  I also believe in taking responsibility to protect lives, by instating procedures that will make purchasing a gun more difficult.  That being said, will all of these measures make our world a safer place?  Probably not…because the law-abiding citizens, the ones who will adhere to new policy, register their guns and follow the rules are not the ones taking innocent lives.

How to you separate the good seeds from the bad seeds?

I’m going to wager that when the Constitution was written there were fewer crazy people in the world.  Gang violence didn’t exist back then.  A huge percentage of people weren’t on anti-depressants and narcotics weren’t available to anyone who had the money to buy them.  Back then, Americans owned guns so they could hunt for food or fight what they deemed to be a collective enemy.  Every once in a while a bad seed would roll through town wreaking havoc, but for the most part people didn’t randomly kill individuals like they do today.

We can’t fix crazy.  The bigger problem is that we often can’t even identify crazy until it’s too late.

What is the answer?  Remove guns from the public?  No.  Only the law-abiding citizens would turn in their guns, leaving them defenseless against the criminals who will still have weapons.  Limit magazine size?  That might cut down on the number of people an insane shooter can kill at one time, but it won’t save the first 15 people. 

The only somewhat feasible solution I can think of is to institute the death penalty on anyone who intentionally kills or attempts to kill another person with a gun.  (Self-defense is obviously an exception.)  I'm talking about criminally insane individuals with intent, malice and premeditation to murder others.  As it stands today, prison isn’t a deterrent for the criminally insane because they have friends there…peers who understand them like no one else. 

What I mean by "insitute the death penalty"  (as it is already instituted in many states) is that in cases where guilt is obvious and the person is convicted, no appeals are allowed.  The day they are convicted is the day they meet with a firing squad.  It needs to happen that fast.  Right now, criminals don't fear the death penalty because, with all of the appeals, it literally takes years for their number to be called up; if ever.   

I don't like it...in fact, thinking about it makes me sick to my stomach; but these are desperate times and desperate times call for desperate measures.

When our forefathers wrote the 2^nd Amendment they had no idea how dark a place our world would become.  They didn’t foresee gang violence. They didn’t fathom mass shootings of school children.  How could they?  They were declaring freedom from government oppression and saw the Constitution as a means to protect the people as a whole.  They never intended it to be used as a weapon to arm crazy people who would then terrorize the population.  It is no doubt that our forefathers are weeping at what we have become.

The violence must end.  Our children deserve to feel safe.  How do we make that happen?  ~

 

 

"The World is a Mess"

The other night my nine year old son came into my room, plunked down in my office chair and let out a big sigh. 

“What’s the matter?”  I asked, glancing up from my laptop.

“It seems like the world is a mess,” he said.

I closed my laptop and studied him.  “What do you mean, ‘the world is a mess’?”

His eyes grew teary.  “Everyone’s killing each other and people are killing themselves.” 

He crawled into my lap and I wrapped my whole body around him.  My heart ached.  I wanted to be able to tell him that the world is beautiful and that people aren’t doing bad things and that we are safe…but I couldn’t.  Somehow the ugliness from out there had seeped into our four walls and penetrated his little heart. 

With tears streaming down my face, we had a conversation for which no parent can adequately prepare. We talked about violence, school shootings, drunk driving and suicide.  These are heavy topics for an adult and inconceivable for a nine year old to bear.  And, yet, it is the reality of the world in which we live.

I learned from our talk that he was afraid to go to school…afraid a shooter would come in and kill everyone in his classroom.  In the same week he had seen headlines on the internet about a baseball star getting a DUI and a country singer committing suicide.  That’s a lot of bad news and he wasn’t sure how to process it.  “The world is a mess,” was how it all boiled down…a statement that is sadly not far from the truth.

We have parental guards on our computers and iPads, but information seeps in through their iPhones and their friends.  It’s impossible to protect your children from the great wide virtual world of information.  As parents, we try to focus on the good so that our children will see that there is beauty in the world; but, oh, how the headlines make this a challenge.

How do we teach our children that violence is not the answer when our own police officers are on video beating a civilian to a pulp?  How do we teach them to feel secure when children are murdered in their own schools?  How do we teach them to forgive when ex-policeman are gunning down previous co-workers and their families?  How do we tell them to be carefree and enjoy their childhood when children are kidnapped, molested and murdered within a few miles from their home?  How do we teach them to look up to role models when those role models drink and drive and use drugs?  How do we teach them that suicide is not an answer when celebrities are overdosing and shooting themselves? 

“The world is a mess.”

The other night I realized I can’t refute that statement.  The world IS a mess.  All I could do and all I did was tell him the one truth that I knew… God is bigger than any mess. With Him in our hearts we never have to face anything alone; and His love conquers all. 

I wrapped my arms tighter around my son and whispered, “I love you with all of my heart and you will never have to face anything in this life alone.”

“How do we clean up the mess?”  He asked.

I kissed the top of his head.  “I don’t know, baby. I think we start by asking God for help.”

And together, we prayed.  “God, please clean up the mess so the children in this world don’t have to be so afraid.”  

I put him to bed and wept.  ~

A PussyCat with an Uzi

My mother-in-law works at a funeral home in Missouri, where many of her co-workers read my books.  They particularly like the Just Call Me Angel series.  After reading the series, one lady asked her if I was a violent person, wherein my mother-in-law chuckled and said, “Oh, no, she’s a pussycat…with an Oozie.”

I have spoken to numerous book clubs wherein a similar question has been posed:   How do you come up with all of the different ways to kill people in your books?

I started thinking… I wonder how many of my readers ponder the same question?  Does someone who writes about acts of violence have to be a violent person?

The Just Call Me Angel series is set in Chicago and deals with the Mafia from a feisty female viewpoint.  It’s unique because it shows a balance between the cold-hearted killer mentality and the tender-hearted nurturer perspective.  Sometimes lines are crossed, just like in real life; but, for the most part, Angel’s hope is that no one would die.

I’ll admit, when writing an Angel book, I study guns and explore the possibilities of how a particular weapon will cause death.  It’s morbid to think about in real life, but in the context of researching for a novel, it becomes exciting.

Does it make me a violent person?  No.  It makes me a creative person, who explores acts of violence only on the pages of my novels. 

Sometimes in life, violence is necessary.  For example, acts of self-defense, or in defense of another person, etc., but it certainly shouldn’t be the norm; and in my life it is not.

I only run around making people offers they can’t refuse in my books.  In real life, I am a pussycat who, for the most part, keeps her oozie tucked quietly away.  J