Tuesday, December 04, 2012

Dear Bob Costas Part II

I heard you Sunday night, during the Cowboys game, using the tragic death of Javon Belcher and his girlfriend Kasandra Perkins to speak out against the so called "gun culture" of this country.  It's the "gun culture", you implied, that is responsible for these deaths.  If Javon Belcher hadn't had a gun, he and Kasandra Perkins would still be alive, you claim.

There is something I'd like for you to clear up for me, though.  When Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman were found with their throats slashed, why didn't you speak out against the knife culture?  OJ didn't have a gun, yet Nicole and Ronald are still dead.  So, how did that happen?

When Andrea Yates drowned her five children, why didn't you speak out against the bathtub culture?  Andrea didn't have a gun, yet those five babies are still dead.  So, how did that happen?

When James Byrd was dragged to his death, why didn't you speak out against the pickup trucks on country roads culture?   Shawn Berry, Lawrence Brewer, and John King didn't have a gun, and yet James Byrd is still dead.  So, how did that happen?

When Timothy McVeigh blew up the Alfred P. Murrah building in Oklahoma City, why didn't you speak out against the rental truck culture?  McVeigh didn't have a gun, yet those 168 people are still dead.  So, how did that happen?

When 19 terrorists hijacked four jets and flew them into three buildings and a field in Pennslyvania*, why didn't you speak out against the airplane culture?  Not one of those men had a gun, yet those nearly 3000 people who died that day are still dead.  So, how did that happen?  

When Ki Suk Han was shoved in to his death on the subway tracks in New York, why didn't you speak out against the subway culture?  The man who pushed him didn't have a gun, yet Ki Suk Han is still dead.  So, how did that happen?

You see here the fallacy of your argument.  You are blaming the gun for the action of the man holding it.  These are but a few well known examples of murders committed without using guns.  In fact, the majority of murders in the United States don't involve guns at all.

That's because murder and violence doesn't originate in the gun.  When Cain rose up and slew his brother Able, the Bible doesn't say what he used to do it, but you can bet he didn't have a gun.

And when God asked Cain where his brother was, did he say, "Cursed be the rock (or the stick) you killed him with"?  No, he said "YOU are cursed."

You could take away all the guns in the land and people would still kill people, because murder originates in the heart.  What we must do to reduce violence is to change the heart.  

How do we do that?  Well, it won't be easy, and it won't happen overnight, but perhaps we could start by hanging signs in our schoolrooms that say:

Thou Shalt Not Kill

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