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Connecticut, gun control, killing, Newtown, pain, Rodney Sadler, Sandy Hook Elementary School, sorrow, tragedy
Words cannot express my sorrow and pain about the unspeakable tragedy that happened at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Friday Dec. 14, 2012. The lives of 20 young children cut too short and the lives of 6 adults tragically taken away has left my heart to ache in pain. As I find it difficult to write about this senseless killing and what we need to do next, I find Rev. Dr. Rodney Sadler’s reflection helpful. Please read his thoughts.
Alright, enough is enough! We need to have a serious conversation about gun control. Our founding fathers wanted us to be able to protect ourselves from tyranny, not to slaughter innocent children, shoppers at malls, girlfriends in drunken rages, movie goers wanting to see the next version of Batman; guns were intended to serve as protection from violence, not a facilitator of it. We need to say that we cannot allow the rights of those who want to shoot rabbits or shoot dear to become more important than the lives of our children!
We need to let those who are paranoid about the “government” taking their rights know that 1) WE are the government, not some evil Other out there! We control what happens here; and 2) If the government really was tyrannical, there is nothing that owning a Bushmaster .223 or a S&W 9mm is going to do to stop it since our government has nuclear weapons and drones; gone are the days when a group of disgruntled guys with guns is any real threat to our way of life.
We need to have a serious conversation about gun control that lets the NRA know that we do not care about the power they wield, we are more powerful and our children are more important! We need to also deal with the fact that it is not enough to control the proliferation of guns, we need to foster the love of humanity that makes such a thought as to engage in gun violence anathema! We need to have a serious conversation about gun control…it is way past time!
[Please consider writing or emailing to the White House http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/write-or-call#write . It is quick, simple and easy to do.]
[Read also: Christmas Reflections: Peace on Earth and Gun Violence]
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Rev. Dr. Rodney Sadler is an associate prof of Bible at UPSem in Charlotte. He is an ordained Baptist minister from Philadelphia and President of the Exodusfoundation.org. He is married to Dr. Madeline McClenney-Sadler and they have one child, Ariyah.
Grace Ji-Sun Kim 
I agree that there needs to be conversation about gun control, but first and foremost I believe we need a conversation about self control. Gun control, crowd control, traffic control, any form of legalized, government or otherwise ordained control gives us the false sense that we are somehow regulated, when in reality those forms of controls are in place because we ourselves can’t act appropriately.
Only when we are able to control our impulses and channel our energies, whims and desires properly can we then talk about legislated controls, because it is only when we have the power to act on those controls that they are effective.
God gave us control over our lives; we have abused that power because we have not acknowledged God’s place in the power-sharing structure. There are limits that have to be obeyed. There are other people that have to be acknowledged, respected and cared for. To that end Jesus invited us to love one another as we are loved. When love becomes the controlling factor in our lives, self-control follows naturally. When we can control ourselves effectively then laws become effective.
Ironically, however, when we can truly control ourselves according to the dictates of God’s love, there will be no need for human laws of any kind.
Thanks John for your thoughtful comment. You have raised another important aspect to this very tragic event.
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