The Handgun Epidemic

It is an encroaching problem--the exploding profusion of handguns in the United States.  The following blogs indicate my view of the matter:

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Tuesday, July 13, 2010

The Pint Size State

The sword of the state simply means
The state has the power to regulate
And back it up with all it takes;
This is a role it cannot abdicate
And remain the state

The citizen’s role is large and great
To create, vote, and speak
But the role of the state it cannot take
The sword of the state it must not usurp
For then citizen it ceases to be,
And becomes instead a mini-state

Oh brave new world that attempts to make
Man and gun a mini-state
Forfeiture of roles etched in heaven
It seeks to level with gun metal.

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Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Invisible Blindness

Some blindness’s are total and in these blindness’s nothing is seen.  A much more troubling blindness is when no darkness is present, vision is good, but the existing object is simply not perceived.  Light abounds but the object is nowhere to be found in the field of view.  In this case, one is unaware of their blindness so there is nothing to trouble them about their lack of perception.  Today I watched as Saint Petersburg city officials once again asked for thoughts and prayers for another murdered policeman—murdered by gunshot—as are most police killings.  A huge array of police forces combed the vicinity surrounding the murder scene without success.  One difficulty was that the murderer was believed to be a black youth in his late teens to early twenties—a description that fits many innocent people in the area cordoned off and searched.  (A 16-year-old ultimately confessed to the crime.) Where does the ghastly blindness lie to which I refer?  The blindness is the peculiar absence of seeing an obvious need—the need for handgun control.  Surely and hopefully at some point the answer will appear—less massive and heartfelt response to gratuitous tragedy and more effective action to prevent it.  Not only are public servants the target of handguns, but also are countless vulnerable servants in the private sector—low-paid convenience store clerks come readily to mind.  It is time to disarm the public of handguns and limit their use to law enforcement agencies.  To do otherwise is to invest in individuals the police power of a mini-state—a gross distortion of institutional physics.

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Sunday, February 2, 2014

A Place for Desperation

The woman with the bleeding problem spent all her money and a great deal of effort to find a solution for her suffering. How likely are you to try every other option before you take your problem to God? (Serendipity Bible 10th Anniversary Edition, page 1401).

If I must die, I must die. (Esther 4:16).


Today I must speak of gun control. Saturday I attended the funeral for Arsenio Terrance Brinson. When shot on the streets of St. Petersburg January 20, 2014, he was 26 years old. I did not know him personally but am a friend of his mother, Brenda. I cannot help but think of the visuals that must be haunting Brenda at this point – those years when she carried him, when she held him as an infant and a child, when she nurtured him through elementary school, and cultivated all of her dreams for him during his high school years. And then, faced with today's unfathomable abyss, the unalterable fact of emptiness chiseled forever at the funeral with the closing of the casket.

I have seen cheerful persons cheerleading unrestricted handguns for our nation. It is my opinion that these enthusiasts for unlimited distribution of handguns have not attended a sufficient number of funerals for those they hold dear.

In my view we have come to a point of desperation—the same point as the woman with the bleeding problem who out of desperation touched Jesus for healing. It is time for caring Americans to stand up and say enough is enough with no regard whatever for personal consequences – if I must die, I must die.

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