Last week in Las Vegas, the world was once more horrified by another
mass shooting in America, where 58 people were murdered and more than 500 left
wounded, making it the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history.
As expected, it opened once again the debate of gun laws, with those
who are pro-guns defending their right to own guns, and citing the fact that it
is not guns that kill people but people who own guns. America does seem to be in a quandary that
simply will not be settled because as much as there exists a sizeable number of
Americans who are opposed to gun ownership, there will be large numbers of
Americans citing the coveted Second Amendment, which establishes the right to
keep and bear arms.
I am not an American. I am a
Singaporean who lives halfway across the globe from America, and I am sure that
like me, there are many who are non-Americans and who come from countries where
there are very strict gun laws and who are unable to fathom how it is that even
though mindless shootings occur with such alarming regularity, causing such
mayhem and carnage, that the pro-gun populace just cannot seem to soften their
stand on their right to bear arms. While
I do understand that a gun left in the drawer, a safe or in a locked cabinet
will certainly not cause anyone death or injury, it is undeniable that it is
the fact that there are firearms within reach in the first place that makes any
shooting possible.
As I reflected on the entire issue, it became clear to me that it is
not just an arms issue. At the heart of
it, it is really an issue of rights. As
long as Americans are brandishing the ‘rights’ placard in the face of their
fellow Americans, there will be no change in the gun situation. Modern America has always prided itself as
the nation of the free, where citizens are protected by their rights. It does seem then that the only way this
issue needs to be broached is to have individuals to be willing to give up
their own rights, for the sake of the greater good. This doesn’t change the constitution, but it
changes the way citizens live with
the constitution.
The skeptic in me (or the realist, depending on how one looks at it)
knows that this is never going to happen, at least not in the next few
generations. When Jesus says that he is
the way, the truth and the life, he is also saying that in him is the key to
the peace that he brings. What Jesus
embraced is not rights nor any semblance of entitlement either. Paul’s letter to the Philippians pithily
states that he ‘assumed the condition of a slave, and became as men are”, and
that “he was humbler yet, even to accepting death, death on a cross”. Herein is probably the only way this issue of
gun ownership is going to be resolved.
It is in not clinging on to one’s rights, even though one has those
rights. In fact, it is in relinquishing
one’s rights that this will find some resolution. That Jesus “emptied himself”, and saving the
world by this kenosis is key to understanding that we need to look at Jesus as
our model and reason for a similar emptying of self, or rights, and to deny
ourselves. We won’t save the world when
we do this, but we will definitely work towards the greater good, even if it is
one gun at a time.
Selfishness is the seedbed of all that is sinful and evil, and the
only antidote to selfishness has to be its antithesis, which is
selflessness. Our sinful and broken
human nature will always cling tenaciously to what we want, how we want, when
we want. This is the unspoken narrative
underlying the culture of rights and entitlements.
Rules or punitive measures meted out on those who insist on their
rights will not see a peaceful willingness to want the greater good for all
peoples, which is a safe environment free of guns. The only way for this to work is if there is
a nation-wide freely accepted willingness to choose to not want to bear and own
arms even if one has the right to. And
because this is so unfathomable, it is not a matter of whether a massacre similar
to the Las Vegas one will take place. It
is only a matter of when.
The world doesn’t seem to be shocked by such stories of carnage any
more. And if you ask me, this in itself
is shocking.
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