On the same day that in Washington DC there is a “march” staged by talking-point saturated young people about – call it what it is – undermining the 2nd Amendment rather than upholding it, a document was released from the Pre-Synodal Meeting of Young People in Rome. Is it possible that that meeting undermined something rather than upholding it? We have to see what it says. HERE
The coincidence of the march and the document struck me, on the eve of Palm Sunday. Pueri hebraeorum… a few days later turn into a mob that chooses Barabbas. I’m not necessarily making a connection, of course. Palm Sunday is tomorrow, after all, not today.
Meanwhile, somebody tell us again how many children died violent deaths last year in these USA? And how?
Reasoned discourse and facts have been pitched in sacrifice to the volcano god of teen emotions.
Here… complete with modern public education quality spelling.
I imagine that some of you readers will be able to find and share good and… interesting passages in the document that was released.
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Thanks for posting this. I can’t help but agree with you on the point about talking-post saturation. I live in the DC area. It’s all over the news. As you know, the March for Life rarely if any mention happens maybe something like, “Constitution Ave is closed for a minor demonstation” or some other vague and dismissive advisory.
As for the guns, good and reasonable people can disagree on how to prevent school shootings. But I don’t hear any substantive proposals just a rather vague, “Stop shootings,” “Never Again,” etc. It’s quite mindless, cultish even. I honestly thought I’d hear more substantive things (whether or not I agree with them) like: mental health checks, gun licensing, assault weapons ban, raising age limits, etc. but not even that. I’ve know our political discourse was garbage but I never thought it was so completely devoid of any ideas of substance.
It’s just mindless repetition of meaningless phrases over and over again. What gives? Is this the rest of media conditioning? Poor academic standards turning kids minds into mush? If so, why no adults offering their point of view?
“For many young people, faith has become private rather than communal, and the negative experiences that some young people have had with the Church have contributed to this. There are many young people who relate to God solely on a personal level, who are ‘spiritual but not religious'”
For this brand new generation, with its brand new way of thinking, here is the reading list assigned for the upcoming youth synod. Finally, 49 years after Woodstock, the Church will finally listen to the young with their radically antiquated views.
I’m OK – You’re OK (transactional analysis), by Thomas Anthony Harris
Our Bodies, Ourselves, by the Boston Women’s Health Book Collective
Rules for Radicals, by Saul Alinsky
The Phenomenon of Man, by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
A Separate Reality, by Carlos Castaneda
Gestalt Therapy Verbatim, by Fritz Perls
Be Here Now, by Ram Dass
Howl and Other Poems, by Allen Ginsberg
Journey to the East, by Herman Hesse
To use a term from the dialogue of different faith traditions, that’s chutzpah.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, in China, we see the dangers of a disarmed populace. While our teenagers get shuttled into DC by the Soros-machine, the youth in China are barred from the door of every church. A woman was recently arrested for trying to tell the Chinese president about Christ.
All of these teen marchers should be shown the film footage of China mowing down its own youth in Tiananmen Square.
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/tiananmen-square-massacre-takes-place
As a former FBI Agent I am fully armed. I have a Rock River Arms AR-15 .556 (which is what the FBI uses) with a Military/Law Enforcement-only Eotech scope, that I’ve zeored to about 200 yards. I have a Springfield Armory XD-S .45, which is the smallest reliable .45 out there (I prefer Glocks, but that weapon is super-light, which is why I carry it). But I watched a video of the recent school shooting where a girl in a floral dress was cowering while a little punk was killing kids and I literally started crying. I’m not denying the Second Amendment, but something does need to be done. And I’m no liberal. But I think very strict penalties need to be imposed on anyone who allows access to a weapon to anyone with a history of mental illness.
I cried because I have four daughters of my own–and it’s anguishing imagining that that could have been one of them.
It’s the same thing in both the political DC scenario and the Vatican Youth Synod scenario: You have adults who don’t want to grow up and lead who are hiding behind children who think they know best in order to advance a puerile agenda pushing a false utopia.
Youth who think they have a RIGHT to be seated in offices that make decisions for others are incredibly proud and obnoxiously arrogant. By definition, the young are lacking in experience, and experience is one critical ingredient of prudence, judgment, and wisdom. They should humbly ask “what may I do, sir”, follow orders, and when they gain experience, accept leadership roles God thrusts upon them.
As for guns: with Malta, I agree that we can do better. Mental illness as a bar to legal ownership of a gun is fairly obvious. I would be OK with raising the age of owning and carrying to 26 or even 30, if that would help (other than police and soldiers, of course – if they have held a gun in service and defense of others, the rule doesn’t apply to them). What about physically tagging bullets at purchase to owners, so if a bullet is used, the police can locate the user? There could be lots of other ways of reducing gun crimes without the silly “take everyone’s guns away” idea.
Perhaps today we should also remind ourselves of the Ulma family, a Polish family who were executed for sheltering Jews on this day in 1944. Father, mother (and her unborn child), and children were executed as a warning to their village not to hide Jews. An armed populace might have slowed down the Final Solution, or at least caused the Germans to have to employ many more resources to implement it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B3zef_and_Wiktoria_Ulma
These young people are being used by the Deep State. Our children are now political tools who will be used as long as they are useful. This is happening through public education. I don’t get it though, does this mean we can’t say “no” to children? The fact that some children got stirred up by Leftists and given signs and told what to say means exactly what, our Second Amendment rights are up for grabs? What a horrible state we are in that this is where we are. Children demanding our Constitution be changed and adults entertain the notion? Are we as goofy as Europe, we’re going to disarm our citizens and bring in hordes of invaders? Good grief if that is how it ends up maybe we shouldn’t survive anyway. Too stupid.
Gun restrictions would do zero to stop school shootings. Zero.
Undermining the 2nd amendment? I don’t think you’re hearing them. Have your guns, but not ARs. Raise the purchase age. Do real backgrond checks. How do these undermine the 2nd amendment? [Review what you wrote! Background checks are done now. How does purchase age change anything? “AR” is a media-fueled target. Wasn’t there a kid with a backpack bomb a while ago?]
I’m so proud of these teens. Current gun policies support our culture of death. [Orrrrr… current gun laws – when enforced – perhaps favor responsibility and defense.] It’s way past time for change. Maybe they can succeed where we adults have failed. [The immature should not be making public policy, especially these days when they are under the thumbs of the left in their schools.]
Most gun manufacturers don’t make the majority of their money selling guns to private citizens. They make their money selling guns to governments, government police forces, and government armies. I am certain those gun salesmen have sold weapons to some awfully shady governments that used those guns against its own citizens. Shady governments make a point of disarming citizens. I have begun to think that is why the NRA is so vocal about citizens being able to have guns, they have met the dictators armies that have purchased them by the boatload.
I marched with some of the young people from my parish.
It was a beautiful sunny day here, but a bit brisk.
Somebody made a sign that was like an icon of Emma Gonzalez.
It was pretty amazing.
I bumped into another parishioner here (who is also our Pizza Lady) who said, “I can’t believe you are here! I always thought you were a repub!” [So, this is party politics for her.]
So, I guess that proved that I keep my politics out of the pulpit. Not the first time that happened.
Anyway, the program was a bit lame, and not like the dynamic one in D.C.
The part of the D.C. rally that was amazing was the student from Montgomery County. He was really great! I cried!
How many people were killed in car crashes last year because of teenagers texting and driving? The driving age should be raised to 21; what business does a hormonal child, whose brain is not even fully physically developed, have driving a one-ton death machine? [I wonder if those who marched today would put their cellphones on the table as a bargaining chip. “We want to do all we can to save young lives! We need common-sense laws! If you raise the age of gun ownership, we’ll support raising cellphone ownership to the same age.” After all, how many teens and young people die from texting while driving?]
I had to laugh a little when the students got all upset over the school requiring transparent backpacks. One of them even said, “Why should I be punished for someone else’s actions?” Why indeed?
If we want to do something, let’s repair families by centering them on Christ and the church; having two married, faithful parents engaged in their children’s lives; living a normal home life not orbiting around LCD screens; getting a balanced, classical education. You know, NORMALCY.
Christ is the only one who is going to save this world. Not the utopian aspirations of school children.
Frankly, I think Soros and those others in control are a bit panicked seeing how Gen Z is turning out more conservative than recent generations. So they are making their peers into heroes for leftist causes—playing perfectly into the ego-driven game of it all. You only have to go to Twitter and see all the teens trying desperately to out-virtue signal one another with who can heap more praise onto the androgynous Marxist girl and the others. (Never mind that there are Parkland students who oppose all of this.)
A bit cynical? Yeah, probably. But with how desperately the media is trying to make this made-for-TV storyline seem grassroots, it’s hard not to be.
Those writing about mental illness: Tread lightly. The definition of “mental illness” is exceedingly fickle. Is someone who sees a counselor for depression mentally ill? Someone with PTSD? A woman with post-partum depression? A person cannot be deprived of his inalienable rights because he doesn’t have a giddy smile 24/7.
[You put your finger on a real problem. Some people classify being a liberal as having a mental illness! o{]:¬) ]
I really, don’t want to post; but, I see alot of discussion of guns (and I mean in this blog) and no mention of:
1) a failed FBI (not this first time, but a long line of mass killers who the FBI has bren tippeed off to)
2) a failed school system, local police, and sheriff’s office, and court system who ignored teacher’s who tried to get this boy expelled and committed in 2016
3) a failed sheriff’s office which received 18 calls about Nikolas Cruz’s violence, threats, & his plan to “shoot up the school”
5) sheriff’s deputies who were unwilling to engage the shooter out of cowardice
6) Gun Free Zone
We need Government Control, not Gun Control.
Current gov’t officials are responsible for the Culture of Death.
Liberals who dismantled the mental health system are responsible for the Culture of Death.
Liberals who have created a false utopia in which people have no reason to live anymore are responsible for the Culture of Death.
Liberals who have blamed white men for everything are responsible for the disillusioned youths and the Culture of Death.
We need to stop glamorizing these shootings.
And… oh, by the way, age discrimination is unconstitutional.
AR is THE STANDARD hunting rifle – it cannot be banned as it is COMMON. Even a minute investigation will reveal that more people are killed by handguns, hammers, fists, & knives than ARs.
But we HAVE TO DO SOMETHING – what idiocy!!!!
That’s just what the would-be-dictator wants to hear.
Just follow the current laws – why is that so hard. A kid says he wants to shoot up the school, his teachers want him committed, you go to his house 30 times for disturbances, everyone in town knows he’s a sicko, and then you’re surprised and want to blame me and my desire to defend myself.
Every other country who has restricted guns has seen dramatic increases in violent crime.
I read this article by a teacher of 36 years, and he had a very good perspective.
https://www.catholicjournal.us/2018/03/21/reflections-on-the-student-walkout/
The other point about all these shooters is that over 96% of them do not have a Father figure
in their life. I am not sure where I read it, but pretty incredible. Gun laws are not going to
save lives.
[So, this is party politics for her.]
No, I was paraphrasing; the discussion was more nuanced than that. [Virtue signaling is less and less nuanced.]
I don’t buy into all of that partisan polarization; for example even though I am a staunch Democrat I don’t support elective abortion [As Democrat or… as a Catholic? a PRIEST?] and believe that our public policies should render it virtually non-existent. [“Virtually”.]
The political left never lets a tragedy pass without exploiting it. I’ve tired people who want to take away my natural God-given to defend myself, my family & my property in the name of safety. Freedom is far more important than safety. I would point out that Switzerland has a trained and an armed populace. This discourages tyrants. Once we are disarmed or unarmed with weapons inferior to the police and military, we are finished.
If these kids want to live in a country without guns, I respectfully invite them to move to China or England.
Frjim4321: “even though I am a staunch Democrat…”
You’re a Catholic Priest, first and foremost. Here in Ireland, we have a forthcoming referendum about whether we should remove our constitutional protection for the the unborn. The constitution, as it stands, protects the right of the mother in difficult situations should her life be endangered, above that of the child. That was always Catholic teaching, albeit it has been terribly, and deliberately, misrepresented by those promoting this horrible referendum. Needless to remark, they have abundant financial support, from all the usual sources. There is no need for an amendment. But it has been forced on us.
And, God knows, we have brought it upon ourselves as a result of our hedonistic embrace of the culture of death, in all its forms. Anyway, God willing, it will be lost. We had at least 90,000 on the streets 2 weeks ago (about 3 million pro-rata in your terms) to protest about it. We live in hope.
But how anyone, especially a Priest, could lend support to a political party that has the “right to chose” as one of its central tenets really leaves me gasping.
Jst: So, is it unconstitutional to set the driving age at 16? Voting at 18? Drinking at 21? Are you saying those age restrictions are unconstitutional?
Actually, countries that restricted guns saw much less violence.
You’ve got plenty of other kinds of guns to collect and play with. No one needs an ar. [“play with”? Okay, you have now left this conversation. You may now sit in the corner and reflect on your approach. If you get yourself back on track, you might be able to rejoin.]
“Freedom is far more important than safety.” Yes! Thank God that kid had the freedom to go in and gun down 17 people. let’s protect that with all we’re worth. [You are being absurd.]
The question I’m currently asking myself is ‘why on Earth are these youth being consulted who don’t seem to hold truth as objective, had little if any religious instruction and want to play around with teaching that cannot be changed as that would undermine the Sacred Scriptures and Tradition in one form or another?’
Being part of the Catholic youth myself, I see a different picture, most youth who attend mass are still in their teens, after they leave high school they tend to skip mass and slowly abandon the faith. The Sunday schools and Catholic youth groups are being fed wishy washy sentimentalism instead of sound teaching from the catechisms. Mass in certain parishes is celebrated irreverently to the point that priests become showmen instead of being in persona Christi which leads to youth developing a casual/cavalier attitude towards the Mass. If that weren’t bad enough, much of the youth tend to accept morality as the world defines it rather than how God defines it. [ Sorry if I sounded like a doom & gloom prophet. This is only a very general idea of what goes on in neighboring parishes and to a great extent my archdiocese]
On a personal note, I never knew there was a TLM till I was 22, there were some utterances from fellow parishioners who said they didn’t understand a word, knew little if anything about the faith, was indifferent towards the Blessed Sacrament and Penance – I only went to confession twice a year before Easter and Christmas where the priest did not require us to say an act of contrition and sometimes did not assign penances. Sometimes I even skipped Sundays and still received Holy Communion. Looking back, I felt that had I been given proper religious instruction, my life would’ve been a lot different. The three documents I hope every Catholic youth should read are: The Baltimore Catechism [very solid teaching, to the point and understandable], Pascendi Dominici Gregis [a hard read on relativism], and especially Acerbo Nimis [on religious instruction]. If St Pius X saw the urgency of religious instruction back then, how much more is it now?
Sorry Father if I rambled on too much, but I feel like my concerns will probably never be heard in the synod and us youth tend to suffer from hubris in that we tend to start with ourselves rather than Christ the God man.
“After all, how many teens and young people die from texting while driving?”
VERY well said, Father! I am all-for the Second Amendment–that is why I like this discussion. The Second Amendment was enacted by our Founding Fathers to give average citizens the right to fight tyranny if it ever came to that–it wasn’t to give them guns just to hunt with.
But absolutely Father–what, about 30,000 people die of car accidents every year? I can’t remember the exact statistic. So, should we bar everyone from having a car lol? No, people should absolutely be able to get any gun they want. The gun I want now is a BARRETT MODEL 82A1 .50. [I saw one the other day in Florida when I went to the range with my mom. We can debate the relative values of calibers and the new rounds that are being developed, but that .50 remains pretty impressive.] These guns are hard to shoot, but you can literally take-out an engine block, for instance. But as another poster said, maybe raise the age at which you can buy a gun? I don’t know the answer. Another poster said who determines mental illness. Another very good point. In the least I think teachers should be allowed to have guns in school if they go though a basic FBI background check. [And a LOT of training. And regular meetings to assess how things are going in their lives.] In the last school shooting a coach sacrificed his life shielding those kids. What if he had had a gun–how many more kids could he have saved?
Removing the shooting gallery designation from schools would be a help
as would referring students to the police instead of ignoring crimes as was done with Trayvon Martin and Nicholas Cruz, to eliminate the school to prison pipeline, which instead opened a school to cemetery pipeline.
Coming from a state in which it’s common for children to hunt, but requires a firearms safety class before hunting alone, it seems inconceivable that when 18 is the age of majority, it’s legal to restrict the drinking age to 21. I’m downright shocked that anyone would think it okay to restrict a liberty enshrined in the constitution, especially with the language of the second amendment, “shall not infringe.”
Despite my excitement and interest for guns, my thoughts about the 2nd amendment type laws aren’t exactly in line with most American conservatives, for a myriad of reasons. I think it’s overall a bad law to be enshrined in a constitution. Ok, that’s fine, I don’t feel like going into that here.
However, the left’s push to make the opinions of the young heavily impact policy decisions is absurd! That the political spectrum that latches onto technocracies and loves to posture itself as the defender of expert opinion, would go to the most inexpert and ill-prepared voices to shape the decisions of a nation is an amazing feet in irony.
In Canada, they want to lower the voting age!?!? I’d increase it! This is all so anthropologically backwards as human societies, from their tribal to more metropolitan and cosmopolitan realities, have always valued the authority and wisdom of their “elders” over the rest! Rome’s senate was, praised even in the Bible (Maccabees), after all seen as a council of elders. Senex=old. Our priests bear that name where presbyter=elder. How many aphorisms pepper our culture with reference to this? “Experientia docet” and “experientia docet stultos” come to mind.
Obviously age, for itself, is no measure of wisdom or virtue that we would seek for and in politics. Nevertheless, giving the opportunity for young people to develop and mature WITH age and BEFORE they engage in politics is the most sensible way!
We live in a day which just loves to make emotional comparisons to 20th century fascist dictatorships. Well, isn’t it interesting that fascists made what could veritably called “cults of youth”? Mussolini changed the anthem of Italy to “Giovinezza” (youth), and made policy after policy which praised and exalted youthfulness! He did so in continuity with Mazzini’s influence and his own “giovane Italia”. Fair enough if youth represents hope and such. But isn’t it curious that the masters of modern propaganda would focus so much to indoctrinate the young? They knew how gullible they were and vulnerable they were to excitements. It’s no conspiracy that these dictators wanted these youths to be blind followers of their movements so that they would fight and die on their battlefields. I’m sure there’s a great Latin motto that would tell us how youthful impetuousness is the sword of tyrants. Modern leftists are not 20th century fascists, but I think they should rethink their position of exploiting the young. On a funny note, of course the young would be for “liberals”, since they are the least informed and least experienced people! LOL!
By politicizing teens and children, and foisting on them the terribly onerous duty of directing nations, before maturity, is to steal their youth and offer it on the altar of these incessant polemics. It’s almost a form of mental child abuse. We need to let kids be kids and respect that everything has its due time.
@ carrie
“Actually, countries that restricted guns saw much less violence.”
Only if you redefine violence as only committed by individual persons.
The worst violence has almost always happened in countries where power ultimately rests not with the people, but with the government.
“Somebody made a sign that was like an icon of Emma Gonzalez.
It was pretty amazing.”
Amazing!? Amazingly blasphemous maybe…but why split hairs? *sigh*
To show my support for the marchers, I upgraded to an NRA Life Membership.
I graduated college not long ago. I think my class was probably the last class ever to have NOT grown up with smartphones in the house–the iPhone didn’t even come out till I was in junior high. The difference between graduating seniors and entering freshmen was massive, and massively disturbing. I have literally nothing in common with kids only a few years younger than me. Maybe instead of banning guns because feelz, we should figure out what’s screwed up America.
Actually, a parish priest is legally responsible, under canon law, for preventing his parishioners from giving the marks of public cultus to anyone not approved by the Church for such cultus.
A big religious-style picture being carried in public by parishioners, openly, with their priest present? Public cultus, possibly even interpretable as a religious procession held by the parish. Big no-no.
But yeah, pretty tasteless. If it were a picture of the Martyrs of San Bernardino, at least there would be some sense to it.
Frjim4321 says,
I don’t buy into all of that partisan polarization; for example even though I am a staunch Democrat I don’t support elective abortion.
Have you ever voted against someone because of that candidate’s pro abortion stance?
.
I’ll just jump in briefly…
mention that I am (- and I actually am -) quite surprised that the dear Carrie disparages the “freedom is more important than security” axiom, which according to my knowledge of political discussions is normally done by the other side…
and I’m off again.
Oh my–Fr Jim the staunch Democrat: so you must be ‘personally opposed’ to the murder of the unborn but vote in people who promote and support it. That is hypocrisy! Father, you are way off base and part of the problem.
Carrie says:
Jst: So, is it unconstitutional to set the driving age at 16? Voting at 18? Drinking at 21? Are you saying those age restrictions are unconstitutional?
There’s nothing in the Constitution relevant to driving age, voting age, or drinking?
While I personally would not have thought that an age limit for carrying a gun (such as concealed carry) is against the Constitution, it is interesting to note that at the time the 2nd Amendment was passed, it was not only common but downright normal in rural areas for boys aged 12 to 14 to carry a rifle for hunting. And even for protection from large animals. (Happening across a bear or a panther can ruin your whole day. Even running into a large buck, during rutting season, could create a lot of danger.) Now the Supreme Court has determined that the 2nd pertains not just to men forming a militia, but to a personal right as well. I wonder whether the Supreme Court in 1795 would have said “shall not infringe” is complete. Surely not absolute – surely criminals were disarmed, by law? My guess is that there is some recognized Constitutional stance that allows laws against little kids owning guns.
Should be.
There’s nothing in the Constitution relevant to driving age, voting age, or drinking.
Gripen wrote:
“Maybe instead of banning guns because feelz, we should figure out what’s screwed up America.”
Oh, that…
I have just one question for the youth who marched in Washington, D.C.:
How many of them are virgins?
They care so much about what can kill the body and so little about what can kill the soul.
They contracept, they abort, they pretend everything is alright all the while blind to what really matters.
If you look, historically, at the most gun-violent inflection points in the last century, they would be the 1920’s and 1960’s. Not surprisingly, the thing both decades have in common is a loss of the fear of God. This lead to a moral retrograde in both decades, particularly with regards to sexual ethics.
In the 1960’s it was popular to psychologize or soften the notion of the fear of God to mean awe of God, but this was a response to the poor psychology of the period. Yes, one of several Hebrew words for fear can carry the idea of awe, but the primary sense is good old fashion respect due to knowing what or whom one is dealing with.
None of the school shooters feared a vengeful God. Servile fear is a good thing to have when starting in the spiritual life, but guilt has become a dirty word for many and largely because of poor psychological science.
One thing the Depression taught was that God is in charge and to be loved, but also respected. There is One greater than yourself who set the boundaries of both the sea and human conduct. This is not a volcano god, capricious and willful. He is so far above that that even his voice causes people to quake, but so far above that that his mere whisper does the same, but is also, a balm.
Why did people go to Church in days of yore? Answer that, dear Grispen, and you will have your answer. Answer why they don’t, now go, and you will find wisdom for future actions.
The Chicken
[This gets a star today especially because it exemplifies “thinking before posting” instead of mere emoting and tossing platitudes.]
I am working very hard not to have uncharitable thoughts toward the students (especially David Hogg) and the media who are cheering them on. The students have the wild eyes of fanatics and their speech is filled with vitrol. I am one of those old people who they want to just die so they can get on and make Heaven on earth (good luck with that).
Right to life has had marches – bigger ones for YEARS with no coverage at all. And these little dweebs get adored by the chattering classes. I can only pray for them and try very, very hard not to despise them.
Carrie,
I think you are just shooting from the hip with emotion rather than reason. Have you ever read the Constitution? I guess when you are aligned with those who want it shredded, it wouldn’t be of high importance. The age limit for voting was changed by the passage of the 26th Amendment to 18 from 21. Driving and drinking alcohol are not Constitution rights, and are governed by the state.
My right to own firearms and protect myself comes from Natural Law, not the Constitution, and the founders recognized that. The Constitution merely spells it out explitly so that 227 years later a bunch of fools would be slowed down in there attempt to implement tyranny.
Why don’t we prevent people under the age of 30 from giving their opinions in public or having public demonstrations? They aren’t knowledgable to say anthying worthwhile, anyway. Would that hold up in court?
“You’ve got plenty of other kinds of guns to collect and play with. No one needs an ar”
Again, you have no understanding of this country’s founding or governing mechanism. Guns are not for playing with. They are to proect from a tyrannical government – which you are fostering. You are actually proving the point of why I need firearms. To protect against what people like you are trying to do. Read the Declaration of Independence (if you can get over it’s “whiteness”)
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it,…”
Well, abortion proves that the government has become destructive to Life, forcing Christians to participate in same-sex ceremonies proves that it has become desctructive to Liberty, the last is really supposed to be “Property” and eminent domain (amongst other issues) proves that destruction. As this destrution becomes more and more severe with time, the only (human) way to keep full-blown totalitariansim at bay is via firearms ownership. Every dicatator knows this.
“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety..” – Franklin
I notice you deflected from my main point (as progressives liberals are apt to do). What is the failing here? Once upon a time, laws were set up to prevent mentally disturbed people from obtaining firearms. I have put forth that the school system, the local police, the Sheriff’s office, & the FBI all undermined these laws. The problem would appera to be the very government you want to put your faith in. Don’t you see, this incident PROVES my need to protect myself. The governemnt official won’t and can’t. When 4 Sherifff’s deputees are hiding in their cars while kids are getting shot, how dare you not allow one of those teacher’s to step up and protect them? You monster!
Does anyone understand the definition of “infringed?” As in:
” the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
from Webster: : “to encroach upon in a way that violates law or the rights of another”
let’s look at “encroach,” shall we….
“to enter by gradual steps or by stealth into the possessions or rights of another”
So, banning of ARs, age limits, round limits, etc, are all encroaching and in violation of the Constitution.
Someday, the 2nd amendment may be the only thing keeping your church open (by that , I mean your Catholic church, not your state house or planned parenthood slaughter house – libs sometimes get confused).
As someone who works with children of this age range, they share a common attribute in large part. Teenagers long to be noticed. Many young people today feel invisible if they do not enjoy the celebrity they feel so many of their peers have, by being on The Voice, starring in a video of some kind, getting lots of “likes” on social media, etc. For many of our young, even their families don’t notice them. This means to them their lives add up to a big zero, and they are desperate to be noticed, for anything! Many of them use the word “crazy” to define themselves, as a badge of honor today. If we don’t give them something good to aspire to, they’ll do what they see gains attention on social media or entertainment.
These young people are being given that intoxicating drug of just being noticed, but now, in order to gain zombie-like attention to the cause, they are told by evil people they are being “listened to”.
How easily this will work on today’s young people. They will have no idea they are just being used for political purposes. People who use reason and logic and who understand history realize we cannot expect children to understand these issues, and we certainly can’t change law because some children clamor on cue.
I think I see a Washington DC community organizer hiding behind these students who are being used by the Media and politicians for reasons other than what they espouse.
The laws had been in place in order to keep someone like Cruz from acquiring
the gun that he used. Unfortunately for political reasons the laws were manipulated in order to keep
students of a certain age from being held accountable and infractions were not put on record–so that it would look like the school system and county had really done something about juvenile crime in that area. The school was totally unprepared to keep the students safe.
The teacher who gave up his life putting himself in front of students might be alive today
along with more of the students if he had access to a firearm. I won’t even go into what the
police and resource officer outside of the building did NOT do.
I can remember when guys came to high school with guns in gun racks in their trucks in order
to go hunting after school and no one thought a thing about it. Shooting other students was unthinkable.
When you take God out of the public square something very evil crawls in. It is not the weapons, it
is the society we are now living in.
Did you also attend the March for Life?
One reason for our bid for independence was George IIIs unsuccessful gun grab, which triggered Lexington & Concord.
Modern leftists aspire to be like 20th century fascists. That’s why they want our guns.
Dear jst5000,
My right to own firearms and protect myself comes from Natural Law, not the Constitution, and the founders recognized that. The Constitution merely spells it out explitly so that 227 years later a bunch of fools would be slowed down in there attempt to implement tyranny.
Please, kindly accept that the framing of the US Constitution was not a prophetic event.
Is it a sin not to bear arms? No, it isn’t. Why then would a legitimate king not have the right to forbid his loyal and especially his illoyal subjects to bear arms? (Remember, there is not a natural right to democracy.)
And do all those other states in the world who do forbid people to bear arms act against natural law?
No. While the second amendment does forbid bans on weapons in the United States, it is a positive law and could be abolished in the usual constitutional amendment process.
(I’m not giving an opinion either way whether a prudent statesman should ban weapons and/or whether the US constitution should be changed. I do say that the suggestion, sometimes heard on the left, that the right to bear arms is not at present granted by the US constitution, is bogus, and to abolish it by judicial activism is an arrogation of powers.)
It seems that right after the Parkland shooting there was some discussion about keeping mentally ill people away from guns but now the conversation has quickly moved to guns themselves and the evil NRA as being the sole cause of the problem. It indicates to me that there is no real concern for the safety of children but instead this is just the Left using the issue to pursue its goal of hollowing out the Second Amendment in the same way that they have hollowed out the First by restricting the exercise of religion in public and the Tenth via increasing Federal control over issues such as education which belong at the state and local level.
It is not surprising that the Left does not really care about children given their support for free access to abortion, to support of policies that encourage single parenthood and discourage marriage, indifference to increasingly violent entertainment and realistic video games played by kids and young adults which desensitize them to brutality and blur the line between fantasy and reality. There are lots of hard question that need to be asked – what can we do to encourage stable families, to insure boys have fathers in their lives, to reduce the violence of entertainment? Or even discuss these issues at all. But no, we would rather just talk about AR15’s and the NRA, which means we really don’t care.
Planned Parenthood, who has been named as one of the supporters of the march last Saturday, kills more children in one day than gun violence ever will.
The crisis we face today is a problem of immorality; and a disrespect for life.. Life has become a commodity, just another thing. When it is unwanted, it is aborted. When it is no longer needed it is euthanized, Each “solution’ is an easy way out for people who are spiritually lost. It has become easier to take a life than to deal with the “inconvenience” it causes, Don’t want the baby? Get rid of it. Don’t want grandma or grandpa or someone else around who has become a burden? Get rid of them. So then it’s a wonder why kids are shooting up other kids in schools? They’ve learned from their parents and the older generation to “take the easy way out” and that human life really doesn’t matter or mean anything. It’s just another thing to be used or to get rid of when it gets in the way.
Until we change……until as a nation we regain the regard for the sanctity and dignity of each human life from beginning to natural end, things are NOT going to get better. Take away all the guns – it won’t matter. No guns? Another way to get rid of “inconvenient life” will be found.
In the end, the problem is not guns, knives, bombs, suicide vests or airliners used as bombs. The problem is that we’ve lost our moral compass and we’re wandering around in a vast moral wasteland. You want an end to the senseless violence? The nation needs to put God back in the center. People need to get to their churches and synagogues and other houses of worship. They need to get on their knees and beg the Creator for forgiveness and guidance. We desperately need to bring Him back into our mainstream culture and the center of our lives, because at this point, He’s our only hope.
On Saturday morning about 6 of us were praying the rosary outside of an abortion mill in the Bronx, when a very agitated 30-something woman coming along the sidewalk stomped over to us wagging her finger with a raging look on her face. If you really cared about children you would be at the march for our lives in Manhattan, she spat out. You would be taking on gun violence against children!
Then she spun around and “marched” directly into the abortion mill so quickly that I could barely think to respond: Listen honey. 17 people is a morning’s work for the abortion mill that you are headed into. The rage directed at us was from her own conscience for killing children.
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Mary, I think you’re probably right (at least partially) about her rage; likely more to the story than we’d be privy to. Sorry you encountered that.
The thing is, both you and the marchers were doing something good on Saturday. You are being pro-life as you pray outside that clinic, the marchers are being pro-life, those who fight for the welfare of children after birth (especially poor, ill, unwanted, severely disabled, etc) are pro-life… each doing what he/she is called to. We shouldn’t be enemies, but collaborators and supporters of one another. One person is praying for the endangered unborn, another person is advocating for an end to mass killings… both are pro-life causes.
Carrie wrote: “One person is praying for the endangered unborn, another person is advocating for an end to mass killings… both are pro-life causes.”
A review of the discussion would benefit you Carrie. You are apparently not comprehending the motivations and goals of these anti-Second Amendment protesters, or maybe you are simply enjoying being glib and frivolous. Regardless, your relentless relativism is noticeable. Please note: relentless relativism is a major component of propaganda and disinformation operations, was used frequently to lethal effect by 20th century tyrants, and resembles Islamist “taqiyya” deception operations. Carrie, note well that relentless relativism is also distinctly anti-Gospel. Cheers.
I see kids march in the Right to Life march on Washington. Should they be discounted because adults drove them there and gave them signs to protest against the constitutional right to an abortion?
Mary – well of course you are right. That poor woman needs our prayers.
Carrie – the marchers were not really marching in defense of people who will be killed by violent people in the future. They were marching because they are proud of their own good selves. There was not a single marcher there who is more against criminal gun violence than the average Second Amendment supporter.
They had years to march against the lack of enforcement of gun laws in places like Chicago where people have been killing each other at the rate of a dozen a week or so for years. They did not.
Carrie, think of it as if you were the mother of the poor woman who worked in the abortuary. To whom are you comparing her, as the object of protest – to people who support the right of innocent people to have guns to protect themselves? Think about it, as if you really cared about the victims and about those who are threatened by bad and violent people. As Solzhenitsyn said, we should not live by lies, and it is a lie to say that the people who “marched against gun violence” are more against criminal violence than other good people. And no, second amendment supporters are not pro-mass killing. That is a vicious lie.
Stephen: “And no, second amendment supporters are not pro-mass killing. That is a vicious lie.” I said nothing like that. I don’t think that supporters of the 2nd amendment are pro-mass killing. Ridiculous. I imagine some of the supporters of the 2nd amendment were part of the march— the ones that got the point of it. As for not marching in Chicago— well, maybe Chicago folks should’ve gotten that started. These marches came as a response to a very personal experience these students had in FL, and grew from there. Revolutions have to start somewhere… I disagree with those who claim these teens are political pawns. Are you threatened because each of their speeches sounded more intelligent than anything you’ve heard from our national leaders in the past year or so??
Carrie wrote: “I imagine some of the supporters of the 2nd amendment were part of the march— the ones that got the point of it.” Well, that is one way to look at it. A more accurate perspective would be that the vast majority of 2nd Amendment supporters recognized this march for what it was: an anti-2nd Amendment political stunt.
Sure enough, there is copious reporting that: only 10% of marchers were of school age; funding was provided by leftist groups such as the “Women’s March” which called for violence numerous times last year; one organizer of Saturday’s march was arrested for gun violence the next day; there was an anti-Catholic theme to the protests against Marco Rubio; the curious case of the foul-mouthed David Hogg and his changing story; Emma Gonzalez and her Cuban flag patch; the apparent dereliction of duty by several public servants was apparently not a theme at this march; reportedly, texting while driving kills more students and this also was not a theme; and as usual for libs, some streets were left afterwards strewn with trash. No doubt there were a few sincere and peaceful people marching, but your rosy view of this march as a “pro-life cause” (26 Mar 11:15 am) doesn’t bear the weight of scrutiny.
Perhaps a prayerful reflection by you on your statement “Revolutions have to start somewhere…” is in order. Cheers.