We continue to hear about gun violence in the news. Almost daily, we hear about another mass shooting or new legislation for stricter gun laws, trying to get passed. Many teachers are now carrying guns and being given special training in how to use them. Even those very young children, who are just entering the school system, are learning to take cover in the ever more likely event that a shooting could occur at his school.
The problem; however, is not going to be solved by changing laws. It is completely ignoring the root of the problem, as is so common in other challenges that our world faces. We cannot fix symptoms. Gun violence is a symptom of our diseased race consciousness. Violence is everywhere we turn. It is in our televisions, in our movies, in our games, and in our military. It is perpetuated by the media.
A baby, who is still in the womb, hears the violent movies and hears the arguments his mother may be engaging in. She hears the rap music, the yelling, and the cursing, even as she lies peacefully against her mother’s breast. Young children are aware of their environment long before they begin to make sense of it. Many children today are growing up amidst a constant stream of violence at a time when they are most vulnerable and impressionable.
Instead of going after the NRA (although without a doubt they are contributing to the problem) we must stop the violence at its source. We must stop it with the media and with the advertisers that target young children. We can stop it for a time in our own homes, by limiting TV watching and Internet access to our kids. We can home school. But eventually, these children grow up and have friends, whose influence becomes much greater than that of the parents.
When you raise your children on violence, is it any wonder that they become enamored with it? War movies, action movies, and crime dramas of every kind, stream through our televisions every hour of every day. Even the cartoons depict violence. Is it any wonder that children become confused by our hypocrisy? We honor and glorify violence in our military, but in the same breath we decry violence in our own neighborhood. We must see that the solution to this problem lies not in control over adult and adolescent behavior, but in a combined consensus and willingness of parents to choose a peaceful environment in which to raise their children.
The parents need to unite and go after the movie and television producers. They need to confront the makers of toys and the advertisers who are poisoning the minds of children. They must stop relinquishing the care of their children to strangers and take responsibility for those lives that they have brought into the world.
