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BY DR. GLENN MOLLETTE
Do parents in America want to spend every school day hoping and praying their children will not be heinously murdered? Do children want to spend their days constantly looking up to see who might be entering their room with an assault weapon? Do you want to walk the grocery store aisles wondering if someone has picked your store and this day to shoot at you? Do you enjoy sitting in a house of worship knowing that if a crazed gunman enters your location the exit doors are very few. Movie theatres are anticipating a major boost in attendance this summer. Can you go in peace knowing that your life could be in danger if someone enters with a semi-automatic weapon or an AR-15?
The list of possibilities is almost endless as restaurants, sporting events, concerts, shopping malls and more are targets of those who plot evil rampages against innocent people.
Uvalde, Texas and Buffalo, N.Y., are the recent locations of horrific killings of the very young and elderly American people doing everyday life — going to school and buying groceries.
When will this happen at your school, grocery store, house of worship or any place else? At one time, Americans never imagined such horrors as many of us have lived to see. One mass shooting has led to another and another. Your school or church or whatever the event is must plan for an attack every time you gather. If we do not try to protect the people at such events and gatherings, then we are throwing caution to the wind and subjecting people we love to the possibilities of being killed.
What is the answer? The Buffalo grocery had an armed guard. This was not enough for a gunman who had strategized and outgunned the security guard who gave his life trying to save others. One major problem is such an evil person has the element of surprise. They have surveyed the location. Innocent people are caught off guard. People may even be carrying weapons but might not even have the time to draw their weapon because the rapid fire of the attacker’s weapon takes that person’s life before he or she can reach for their weapon. What is the answer? Do we equip every teacher in America with a semi-automatic weapon? Should teachers and grocery store shoppers and ministers carry assault weapons at all times? Do you want to put on your Sunday dress and then strap on your assault rifle so you might have a chance of defending yourself? State and federal lawmakers continue to wrestle with what to do. One suggestion is to take away all the guns. This might be OK until Russia or China invades us and we all have to fight.
The local villain may find a way to order all the parts he needs online to assemble an assault weapon and you have no way to defend yourself. This possibility must be made illegal.
Evil finds a way to release hate and fulfill deranged fantasies. This does not mean we give up. Limiting assault weapons to people 25 and older, strict background checks, waiting periods and licenses is possibilities. Limiting all gun purchases to people over 21 is another possibility. Eighteen-year-olds use guns in the military but are trained and strictly supervised. Do Americans really need assault type weapons? Would we be willing to ban them if it would save an elementary school of children from a murderous rampage?
It’s all too late for Uvalde, Texas families and so many more. State and federal government must make some real decisions. In the meantime, we have to protect ourselves.
(Dr. Glenn Mollette is a national radio commentator, seminary/college president, national syndicated columnist, and author of 13 books)