The church shooting in South Carolina Wednesday night was a tragedy beyond words. The senselessness of this act, and the deep sadness it has caused, has enveloped all of us.
The kid who did it was a sick racist influenced by family and friends and culture in God knows what ways that made him into the person he is.
But that is not all that this horrible act calls on us to think about long and hard. As difficult as it is to put what happened in Charleston in its large context, that is what we must do.
The fact is, what Dylann Roof did proves once again that the retired Canadian defense attorney was so right when he remarked that “America has a long way to go until it becomes the country it thinks it already is.”
Too many Americans continue to delude themselves into believing this wanton violence has nothing to do with the easy availability of guns.
They believe such nonsense in spite of the fact that other nations have sick individuals, racists, radicals, and the like, but do not have mass shootings like this happening virtually every week.
Maybe the citizens of other nations are just better people than we are. But it is also possible that they are just like us, human and flawed and good the same way all Americans are.
If that is the case, then there is another reason violence like this happens here more than anywhere else. I believe that reason is simply that too many Americans refuse to believe easy access to guns has anything to do with these killings.
“Guns don’t kill people,” the NRA says, “people kill people.”
I still hate the NRA. It is the most useless organization this country has ever had or ever will have. It thrives on lies and propaganda, fighting every common sense effort there is to limit the easy access to guns.
The NRA views Americans as idiots, too dumb to understand that there has never been and never will be any danger that the government will take away our guns and enslave us to its will.
That is an NRA myth, and it deserves the scorn of every decent American for perpetuating it.
Easy access to guns is not about the Second Amendment. It is about money.
That is why any politician who misrepresents the Second Amendment and follows the NRA in opposing common sense gun control is showing disrespect to the memory of those who have died in all the mass killings that have been happening for too long in our country.
When you cannot attend a Bible study in your church without the threat of being shot to death, something is very wrong with our society.
At least in part that something is the NRA lie that guns protect people instead of killing them.
So I grieve for the families of those who died in Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church this week, and the families that are still mourning the loss of loved ones in other killings like this, and all killings related to the easy access to guns.
But I also grieve for our nation that continues to believe the myths it tells itself that we are the greatest nation on earth and the last best hope for humankind.
In truth we will never be such a nation, but we could get closer if voters were willing to demand our politicians enact common sense laws that make guns less available than they are now.
And all of us together can tell the NRA to go to hell!
linnposts.com 
Right on, Jan! We just don’t seem to know how to fight a powerful group like the NRA.
Thanks, Colleen. I think one way is at the ballot box, refusing to vote for people who are afraid of the NRA.
Amen Jan. Agree with you 100%.
Coming from you, Wilbur, that means a lot.
what laws would you suggest that might have prevented this?
Good question with many answers. What quickly comes to mind are such things as banning Uzis, AK-47s, bullets that pierce armed vests, ensuring every gun owner has gone through a background check, repeal all conceal and carry laws (no citizen needs to walk around with a gun on his or her hip!). There are others.
Would any of these have prevented what happened in SC? We will never know, but what we do know is that guns help to promote a culture of violence in the U.S. and that has to change if we have any hope of reducing the level of killing we are now experiencing.
The bottom line is that the current situation is making things worse. It’s time for a more sensible, less violent direction.
Perhaps Connecticut’s gun laws are reasonable… http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2015/06/12/gun-killings-fell-by-40-percent-after-connecticut-passed-this-law/
This was just pure evil
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The main reason why we in the UK can run a strict regime of firearms control is that there is a nationwide consensus that the only people who have any business at all to possess a gun are specialised branches of the Police, or the armed forces of the Crown. It took us decades – centuries even – for us to arrive here, going back to the time of the Wars of the Roses (1455 – 1485).
As for the US, I can only think of an old Chinese proverb that “The longest journey starts with a single step”, but prohibition of the weapons that Jan outlines that are purely military in usage would be an important first step.
Nigel, I can only hope we can take that “one” step toward creating a public consensus similar to the one in England. Somehow many Americans believe our freedom depends on the possession of guns. The freedom you enjoy there and others do all across Europe makes that thinking absurd, but it’s a hard nut to crack.
How does one tell which politicians are afraid of the NRA?; I think that is easy to answer because I think almost all of them all are. I think a better question is how does one tell which ones are truly not afraid of the NRA?
I share your intense dislike of the NRA. I think it has become nothing more than a lobbying organization for gun manufacturers. I also think it is run by a bunch of people who think the answer to all of our ills is more guns for everyone. I definitely do not agree with that. I also think it is fed by many people who are paranoid about their “right” to own any kind of firearm imaginable, including those designed solely for military use. We had a ban on assault weapons in this country until the advent of W Bush, whose administration let it expire.
Having said all that, I think that the prevalence of guns in our country is a symptom, not the disease itself. The disease (and I think it is a VERY serious one) is the pervasiveness of violence in our culture. I think it has become very deeply ingrained. I think we have become immune to its presence and the damage it is doing to us. I wish I could say I have some good ideas as to how to cure, or at least minimize the effects of, this disease. But I not only don’t have any good ideas how to do it, I don’t have any ideas at all.
I think you are exactly right, Wally.
“. . . the fact that other nations have sick individuals, racists, radicals, and the like, but do not have mass shootings like this happening virtually every week.” What about ISIS ?? What about the Mexican Mafia?? They have guns, and they do use them, a LOT. And think of all the big city gang members who shoot people, one person at a time, on an hourly basis almost! Also, the title of your article uses “hate” in it. I thought Christians should have better attitudes than “hate”; I thought that word is for bigots, racists, radicals, and the like.
Interesting discussion here, Jan. So many respondents! I wish there were this many for certain other issues you post but this obviously hit some nerves. The US’s relationship to guns is historical and complex. However, their easy availability raises the potential for lethal consequences in the hands of almost anyone because a thoughtless or emotionally charged response between or among people can turn unnecessarily deadly.
One idea I heard toward greater responsibility among gun owners would be to require all owners to posses both a license and insurance. Rates would be tied to both the owner and the type of gun and would increase with abuse or carelessness. A death could suspend or cancel the license and cause the gun to be taken by authorities; like what happens with automobiles.
Bob, I think that is the kind of idea we need to have honest discussions about in order to find our way to some sensible laws that may help change this culture of violence we now live in.
Sounds like a good idea, Bob.
Does anyone seriously believe that Congress will pass any kind of legislation that will in any way put any kind of restrictions on gun ownership or usage/ I would not bet on it!
Again, criminal element will ALWAYS have guns. Non-Registered. Non-Insured. Not on any “list” for concealed or non-concealed. That’s WHY they are called “criminals.” So, you want the Police to be at your home or business in 15 minutes (IF you had ANY chance AT ALL at calling 911) ? I offer this OPTION: have better laws, better care for, more listening to families with members who are mentally ill and incapacitated, the “loners” who seem to be the ones who do shoot-ups on a massive scale (and also to areas of one-by-one gang shootings in drug zones, crime areas of any major city). The “solution” you really want is to take the sick violent people away from opportunity to shoot at, or kill, people. You are looking at most ordinary people and “criminalizing” them by falsely claiming THEY need to be under surveilance. That is the WRONG “target” for change in law–improve laws that give assistance to families or other persons who recognize problems with one of their members or who are involved with their groups. Check stats: there are ?? how many people purchasing hunting licenses for deer and/or duck during each season? And how many hunters are killed by other hunters out there?? Nada!! These are the ordinary folk who take gun training and obey the laws. Look at WHO is actually killing people; the abused person getting back at others, the loners who have been bullied, others with mental issues.
I’m sorry, I do not understand your objection to registration, licensing, and insuring gun owners. (see link above on Connecticut’s law from the Washington Post) We license people to drive a vehicle, make sure they are capable of such, and require that they be insured; we even license those who cut our hair! What is the objection to doing the same for gun owners. A universal background check would help ID those who don’t qualify for gun ownership, and may need a better support system. It would do exactly what you are asking for.
More good conversation! I recall the whole gun issue being the subject of the documentary “Bowling for Columbine” and its conclusion that when comparing the US to other gun countries, especially our neighbor Canada, which has a similar percentage of gun owners but very few gun murders compared to the US, that the underlying societal difference was the amount of “fear” imbedded among US citizens compared to Canada; many other countries as well. Fear within individuals and groups drives so many divisive and negative activities and is such a powerful tool for control for an enormous range of humanity form individuals to nation states it must be discussed as a root cause for our country’s relationship with guns; especially in the context of our affinity for “rugged individualism”! Fear is growing as our social ties as a nation break down and the social safety net is eroded. I say it all starts with fear of the “other”; whomever they are and in whatever human relationship we choose to look at. Also know that some of our collective fear is perpetrated by government and business groups as a means of controlling the masses. Amazing how well it works! “We have nothing to fear except fear itself!”