Evangelicals, Politics & Firearms (the unholy trinity)
In Guns We Trust is an American book, also relevant to England, with an increase in gun violence. In the USA when you have over 100 million people owning guns, you get tragedies like the recent Minneapolis events.
This book also recalls the Sandy Hook shooting (the author was the local bureau chief when it happened). At a New England primary school, one man shot his mother dead, then killed 20 children and 6 staff at a primary school, before shooting himself.
What makes this book so interesting is that the author is a practicing Christian, who is appalled at how the ‘Christian evangelicals’ have ‘hijacked his faith’ to promote gun ownership and right-wing politics (one of the teachers who died at Sandy Hook was just 27 as she protected the children – she was also the daughter of immigrants).
The daughter of Gwen Mayor (the teacher who died protecting children at Dunblane) won’t let her children play violent video games – instead she teaches them about hedgehogs, her mother’s favourite creature).
Just like here (where all mass shootings have been carried out by legal gun owners), the Sandy Hook killer’s gun had been legally bought by his mother (who he shot dead). All these people needed to pass checks to carry guns, before they carried out their crimes.
One good thing to come from all this tragedy was Sandy Hook Promise, a website with free resources for schools, councils and police forces to prevent gun violence worldwide.
Guns are now everywhere. Millions of Americans hunt animals (sometimes as ‘trophy hunters’, like what happened with Cecil the lion (the dentist went onto kill a rare Mongolian sheep).
Although President Trump does not hunt himself, his sons do (there are photos of them grinning alongside dead buffalo and leopards, and even holding the tail of an elephant they had killed).
Since coming to office, Trump has relaxed the laws on trophy hunting (in England, some peers in the House of Lords are delaying the Bill due to vested interests, by talking about it for hours and hours).
What’s This Book All About?
This book is basically an unsettling investigations into the ‘unholy trinity’ which incorrectly links Jesus Christ to right-wing politics, ‘America first’ mentality and gun ownership. He asks why it is that ‘white evangelicals’ are more likely than other Americans to own weapons? Yet the main message of Jesus was peace and to ‘turn the other cheek’.
He also meets Christians worldwide who would never own a gun (think of Quakers). One Amish community that suffered a similar primary school shooting a few years back, even had the residents attend the funeral of the gunman, and help his widow and young family.
It’s almost impossible to believe this level of forgiveness. But due to their actions, the killer’s parents (he also shot himself dead) were able to forgive their own son. His mother would even visit a survivor (left unable to walk, talk or feed herself) to read her the Bible and Anne of Green Gables stories.
The author also meets activists who are ‘beating guns into garden tools’, and nuns who bought company stock, so they could force a gun manufacturer to do more to promote peace!
William J Kole is an award-winning veteran journalist who has reported worldwide, and served as bureau chief in Vienna and New England. A former lay missionary, he also served as board president for an international Christian relief agency. He lives in Rhode Island, USA.
How to prevent mass shootings in England
In recent years, it’s become terrifying the amount of mass shootings in the world, and some of them are now happening in England, which has far less of a gun culture than abroad.
But despite the panic caused by both the event (and often the media), there are proven ways to help prevent these awful tragedies, in most cases. Forget ‘political correctness’. Nothing excuses anyone shooting anyone, but it helps to know some causes, to stop the same happening again.
Vote for Peace
There is never any excuse for mass shootings. But often they have political or religious hatred causes. That’s not to say the shooters are justified, but voting for parties that promote peace (rather than create more hatred by arming countries to bomb children’s hospitals etc) helps to foster world peace.
After the tragic shootings on Sydney beach, the Israeli Prime Minister immediately began to put blame on politicians, the same happened with President Trump in the USA, when Charlie Kirk was shot.
Neither does anything to help prevent the same happening again. Politicians have responsibility to bridge divides, not create more hatred and division.
Prevent Bullying (in schools and workplaces)
Many teenagers who participate in school shootings often have a history of being bullied at the school they have carried out their crimes. So preventing bullying is obviously one way to prevent such tragedies happening again. And remember bullying can also happen in the workplace.
Listen to Warnings (they’re usually there)
One surprising fact from research, is that nearly all mass shooters give a good indication of what they are about to do, whether that’s telling someone, or posting on social media.
So better monitoring can help to prevent further shootings. Register your school at Sandy Hook Promise, to take online courses to prevent shootings.
One way to help is for parents to use BARK app: This tool scans messages and posts (without being too intrusive) for talk about bullying, self-harm, threats and talk about weapons). In the USA (where it was invented), this app has prevented at least two school shootings.
Links Between Animal and Human Abuse
Nearly all serial killers (and this includes mass shooters) have a history of cruelty to animals (most people who own lots of guns are hunters).
Animal Legal Defense Fund has more information on this, which is a huge factor in preventing crimes to both animals and humans. You can take free courses to learn more.
Don’t Encourage Play with ‘Violent Toys’
The daughter of Gwen Mayor (the teacher at Dunblane who died with defensive wounds, holding a dead child in her arms) does not allow her own children to play with toy guns or violent video games. Instead, she teaches them about hedgehogs, her mother’s favourite animal
