“But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death.” Proverbs 8:35-36.
Updated October 4, 2015.
The nation is still reeling from the breaking news about the latest shooting rampage in Roseburg, Oregon. Christopher Harper-Mercer, the 26-year old man who authorities confirmed as the shooter, has now been allegedly responsible for killing ten people and wounding 7 others in a hate-filled shooting spree. What is not being widely reported is that Harper-Mercer listed the occult and black magick among his interests, potentially shedding more light on his motivation as he targeted Christians and taunted them for their faith before murdering them in cold blood.
According to reports:
Hannah Miles, right, a student at Umpqua Community College, reunites with her sister after escaping the shooting.
A gunman opened fire at 10:38 this morning, killing 10 people, while wounding 7 others at Umpqua Community College. Three of the wounded are listed in critical condition, Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin said during a 4:45 p.m. press conference today.
The identities of the shooter and the victims were unavailable at press time. At least 11 had been transported to Mercy Medical Center, according to Mercy spokeswoman Kathleen Nickel, and two of those died. One victim was life-flighted north. As many as 10 victims were dead and the alleged shooter was reportedly killed. (source).
Targeting Christians
#UCCShooting pic.twitter.com/RVtzkWVSPu
— Bodhi (@BodhiLooney) October 1, 2015
Relatives of several of the victims and one eyewitness to the shooting have all stated that Harper-Mercer specifically targeted Christians in his murderous attack. Stacy Boylan, whose daughter Anastasia was shot in the back on what was her fourth day of college, told CNN that Harper-Mercer’s shooting spree was motivated by anti-Christian hate:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQORWp3fkRQ#action=share
“He shot the professor, point blank, one shot, killed him — took him right out of it,” Boylan’s father, Stacy [wearing a shirt bearing the anagram “CFL” and “Christ For Life” emblazoned on the chest], told CNN. “And then, this man, had enough time, I don’t know how much time elapsed before he was able to stand there and start asking people one by one what their religion was. ‘Are you a Christian?’ he would ask them. And if you’re a Christian, stand up.” “And they would stand up and he said, ‘Good, because you’re a Christian, you’re going to see God in just about one second,’” he continued, relaying his daughter’s account. “And then he shot and killed them.” (source).
Christopher Harper-Mercer’s Motivations: Connections To The Occult?
Christopher Harper-Mercer’s profile revealed his interest in the occult and black magick.
In the wake of the tragic shooting, the media is already searching the online life of Harper-Mercer to try and piece together the motivations for his deadly rampage. Many media sites have reported on social media websites where Harper-Mercer expressed an admiration for the Irish Republican Army, purchasing Nazi regalia and uploading documentaries on prior mass shootings. On a dating website profile Harper-Mercer, who went by the handle “IronCross45” a reference to the medal worn by Nazi officers, the killer’s interests gave insight into his spiritual state.
Christopher Harper-Mercer’s mySpace page celebrated the IRA and the violent standoffs with the British military.
Among his interested he listed: “Doesn’t Like Organized Religion.” He also listed “Left Hand Path”, “Magick and Occult” and “Meditation.” The Wikipedia definition of the Left Hand Path states:
The terms Left-Hand Path and Right-Hand Path refer to a dichotomy between two opposing approaches found in Western esotericism, which itself covers various groups involved in the occult andceremonial magic. In some definitions, the Left-Hand Path is equated with malicious Black magic and the Right-Hand Path with benevolent White magic. (source).
The Bible reveals the connection between Satan and the left hand in the Old Testament book of Zechariah:
And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. And the LORD said unto Satan, The LORD rebuke thee, O Satan; even the LORD that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire? Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel. And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment. And I said, Let them set a fair mitre upon his head. So they set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the LORD stood by. – Zechariah 3:1-5.
In this vision the prophet saw Joshua, the High Priest of the Holy Temple of Israel in Zechariah’s day, standing before the throne of God. And standing next to Joshua to protest against his righteousness was Satan. The Devil was essentially lobbying to God for Joshua to be cast to hell. The Angel of The Lord, an Old Testament title for Jesus Christ, forgives Joshua of his sins and clothes him in clean garments – a symbol of the new righteousness a believer receives when they put their faith in Jesus Christ. In this conflict the Bible provides the specific detail that Satan stood at the right hand of Joshua. This is significant because both were facing God’s throne meaning Joshua stood at God’s right hand while Satan was at God’s left hand.
An authoritative book on the Left Hand Path features an image of Satan as the serpent in the Garden of Eden.
The right hand of God is a symbol for God’s glory and power. And often a reference to The Lord Jesus Christ. Exodus chapter 15 records the song Moses sang after God gave the Israelites victory over Pharaoh and the Egyptian armies at the Red Sea. In it he makes several references to the “right hand of God.”
Thy right hand, O LORD, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O LORD, hath dashed in pieces the enemy… Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? Thou stretchedst out thy right hand, the earth swallowed them. – Exodus 15:6; 11-12.
Other passages praise the right hand of God as a symbol of God’s mercy and salvation:
Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. – Psalm 16:11.
Shew thy marvellous lovingkindness, O thou that savest by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them. – Psalm 17:7.
Now know I that the Lord saveth his anointed; he will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand. – Psalm 20:6.
According to thy name, O God, so is thy praise unto the ends of the earth: thy right hand is full of righteousness. – Psalm 48:10.
The right hand of God signifies prominence and rank in Heaven. 1 Peter 3:17 says of Jesus: “Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.” Hebrews 12:2 says: “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Because Jesus Christ gave His life on the cross, enduring the wrath of God as He took the punishment for all the sins of the world, He is now seated at right hand of the throne of God. The significance of God’s right hand as being His authority, glory and symbolic of Jesus Christ Himself.
Thus the “left handed path” is a blasphemous reference to the Satanic side of spirituality. It is a tribute to those who choose to follow the Devil and his ways in rebellion against God. And this sadly, was the interest of Harper-Mercer. Far removed from God, his conscience became so seared a hot iron, that he was ready to murder the innocent. In a blog post made a month before the shooting, Harper-mercer expressed admiration for murderer Vester Flanagan, who recorded and uploaded his shooting of a newscaster and cameraman to the internet.
The Oregon shooter seemed to admire the “instant fame” Vester Flanagan achieved during his murder spree.
Flanagan indicated he was motivated by discrimination against him for being gay and retribution for racially charged police shootings. But on-camera shooting and subsequent social media posting showed he wanted notoriety before his death. A desire for fame and recognition and revenge on the world indicates a cry for help and brokenness. Like many today, Harper-Mercer expressed a hatred for God. In a society that is growing increasingly hostile to Jesus Christ, the Bible and any reference to God in public, many are finding solace in attacking the Christian faith. On his torrent uploading page, Harper-Mercer uploaded an album by the Finnish metal band Grave Pleasures.
Chris Harper Mercer uploaded ‘This World Surviving Sandy Hook BBC Documentary 2015’… 3 days ago. #UCCShooting pic.twitter.com/fgmcBZuHei — Vanguard 14 (@keksec_org) October 2, 2015
The group which describes itself as “apocalyptic death rock”, makes music that treats life as having no purpose. Here are some lyrics from their song ‘Nuclear Winter’:
“When reapers of the rift pull your name from bony lips
you better stand up on your grave and surf the apocalypse
Rails laid for funeral trains,
another sip of bile again,
heading for the palace of the gutter,
shaking like a quarrel of mothers,
come cry in the wrath of love,
don’t dream of a heaven above,
’til Christ warms his campfire warboots,
let the tongues of a corpse address you!” (source).
A picture from the Facebook page of “death-rock” band Grave Pleasures.
Rather than moving from God, we should move to God to heal the emotional and psychological pain and angst we feel as a result of being sinners in a sinful, depraved world. Jesus Christ said: “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” (John 10:9-10).
The “thief” is Satan who wants to lure all people into sinful rebellion so he can steal the joy from their lives and kill and destroy as many as possible. Encouraging people to “don’t dream of Heaven above”, mocking God and believing that life is pointless and you have no value are temptations Satan wants in a person’s life to make them broken and bitter like Harper-Mercer and other killers. Giving oneself over to the Devil is opening the wrong door for all manner of evil to enter one’s life. Jesus Christ gives the life abundantly by providing free forgiveness for one’s sins and giving every believer a new spirit that is at peace with God and secure in the knowledge that you will have eternal life.
As more details emerge, it’s clear that Harper-Mercer did choose the left hand path. Former classmates told media outlets that the shooter had an obsession with death and would draw coffins in his notebooks during class. A source close to the investigation gave some details about the manifesto Harper-Mercer wrote and handed to someone at the community college before commencing the killings. The racist, anti-Christian rant had a “666” scrawled on the top of it. 666 is the number of the Beast or the Antichrist in the book of Revelation. Additionally the murderous Harper-Mercer expressed a desire to go to hell. “I serve darkness”, he allegedly wrote, according to a source who spoke to People magazine. In his letter, which has yet to be released he boasted that he would be “welcomed in Hell and embraced by the Devil.” (source).
‘The guy did this strictly for satanic purposes. He did it to become a god in hell. He wants to be evil. That is his goal, to serve Satan,’ the source said.
Prayer Is Enough For The Victims
Friends and family mourn the victims of the Umpqua Community College shooting.
Confess [your] faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. – James 5:16.
Pray for the victims and families of this most recent tragedy. And for those who are bitter at God and society and presently considering hurting someone in retaliation. While there will be much debate over gun control, the second amendment and other measures to stem violence, true source of the problems plaguing society is sin. It is our own sinful nature that has brought the violence, evil and death into the world. And the solution for changing the heart of a sinner is salvation in Jesus Christ.
Pray for this tragedy to provide a witness to the light and love of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Praise God for believers who in the face of death were not ashamed to stand up for their Savior and proclaim their faith and pray for healing the tiny town of Roseburg as they attempt to recover from such wicked act of violence. There is true peace. There is true joy. And there will be a world without hatred, violence or death. And it will come through peace with God through faith in Jesus Christ.
“When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world..” – Jesus Christ, Matthew 25:31-34.
Prynhawn da/Good afternoon
Hi
Yet, again another tragic firearm incident involving schools/colleges, and the death of students. It is the umpteenth similar attack in the last decade that these copycats assassins have chosen to gain notoriety, and whose own preferred choice of death is -suicide by cop. My heart goes out to the families of the dead and injured, I personally know what it is like to lose a child, it is something that you will never get over. It is also tragic if the reports are correct that the killer had a religious motive for his killing spree! However, the outdated gun law in the USA, which was probably necessary in the era that the gun law was passed, but this is the 21st century. And it is this law that people should also blame, as it makes it easy for people to buy and sell these weapons of death, and it is by time that people say enough is enough, and vote to bang guns! Guns are not manufactured to maim, they are made to kill, and should only be in the hands of the military, and the law enforcement authorities.
Cofion (regards)
Jero Jones, Mab Cymru
So where are all the politicians and news organizations at when Christians are massacred for faith in Jesus? If a so called “Christian” lined up Muslims or Atheists and exterminated them for their beliefs, that’s all we would be hearing about!!! All we are getting from the news is more crap about gun control! If this area wasn’t a “gun free zone”, there could of been a concealed handgun carrier on site to take this guy out. Thoughts anybody?
Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.
Matthew 24:9 (KJV)
Collin – Please don’t pretend that this massacre represents some mass persecution of Christians in America. Mercer shot the non-believers too, they weren’t spared! Don’t forget that God loves all of us — the life of a Christian is not more valuable than the life of an unbeliever.
More guns are NOT going to prevent these shooting from happening in the future. We already have roughly 300 million guns in civilian hands here — if more guns makes us safer, why is our homicide rate the highest of any developed country on earth (except Russia)? You have to be intellectually honest & face the facts. Gun culture advocates try to convince the rest of us of the protective ability of guns & their magical power to be used against our enemies -– inc. the federal gov’t., which most gun advocates seem to hate. But the hundreds of millions of guns already in the hands of civilians aren’t making us safer — they’re causing homicides. Egotistical men who think they can solve their problems with a gun are what led to this shooting in Oregon & the one in Charleston & the one in Santa Barbara & all the ones before that — can’t you see that? These massacres keep happening because it’s too easy for anyone to buy a gun in America! We’re not the only country with angry, demented young men — they exist in all countries. But these mass shootings Do Not Happen In Other Advanced Nations where gun ownership is more carefully regulated — period.
Australia hasn’t had a gun massacre since April 1996, when Martin Bryant walked into a café, ate lunch, then opened fire with a semi-automatic weapon. He killed 35 people & wounded 23 others. It was the worst mass murder in Australian history — & The Last One. Before the year ended, the Australian gov’t. passed a series of new laws — the National Firearms Agreement — that banned automatic & semi-automatic weapons as well as pump-action shotguns.They also held a nationwide gun buy-back program that led to more than 640,000 weapons being turned in to authorities. They haven’t had one gun massacre in the 19 years since the Port Arthur shooting. The 1996 NFA also made it illegal to use firearms in self-defense! The NRA will tell you that had to lead to an increase in crime. WRONG! Both gun homicides & gun suicides in Australia have dropped since 1996. Their murder rate is 1 per 100,000 people, ours is 4.5 per 100,000 — more than 4 times higher.
Like most western nations, Australia chose the safety of her citizens over the false “right” of letting anyone own as many guns of any type as they chose to keep. Most importantly, they banned raid-fire semi-automatic & automatic weapons that only exist to slay as many people as possible as fast as possible! Guns like that only belong in the hands of soldiers in combat settings. Yet even when 90% of Americans (inc. most NRA members) wanted universal background checks to be adopted after the Newtown massacre in 2012, nothing was done — because our Senators & Congressmen in both parties are all on the NRA’s payroll. THAT is what Paul meant when he spoke of fighting against “spiritual wickedness in high places” in Ephesians chap. 6.
Hi RC,
You said,
Please don’t pretend that this massacre represents some mass persecution of Christians in America. Mercer shot the non-believers too, they weren’t spared!
So what would you call it then? The eye witnesses stated plainly that the shooter specifically targeted people of the Christian faith. People that denied being Christian were only shot in the legs, not the head. This is how it starts when persecution happens, a few incidents here, a few there, next thing you know everybody’s doing it! I never called it “mass persecution”, but if a so called “Christian” did this to Muslims or Atheists, the main stream media would call it mass persecution for sure.
You said,
More guns are NOT going to prevent these shooting from happening in the future.
I never once stated that we needed more guns. I said we should have significantly less “gun free zones”. Why do you think these shooters are targeting schools? Because they don’t allow law abiding citizens to carry guns on the premises! These shooters know that no one will be able to stop them. Can you not see this?
You said,
Australia hasn’t had a gun massacre since April 1996, when Martin Bryant walked into a café, ate lunch, then opened fire with a semi-automatic weapon. He killed 35 people & wounded 23 others. It was the worst mass murder in Australian history — & The Last One.
Check your facts, there have been 2 shootings since 1996. Here’s the problem I have with liberals and their clouded thinking. You act like if there are no guns, then everything is safer. Have you looked at all the massacres Australia has had since 1996? You don’t need a gun to go on a killing spree! In Australia just last year in December a man walked into a school with a knife and killed 8 children. I don’t hear you calling for “knife bans”. Why not? A week after Sandy Hook, a Chinese man walked into a school and killed 30 children with a knife. Should we start doing background checks for Kitchen knives? When people don’t have guns, they find other objects to kill with. So why is it always when someone decides to use a gun that we get all crazy and start trying to take them away? More people die every year from hammer attacks than gun shootings. Should we have a nation wide ban on hammers? There have been seven massacres in Australia since your “glorified gun ban”. And two of them were shooting incidents by the way. Every other incident involved either arson, a blunt object, or a knife. Just think about how many of these lives lost, especially the children, could have been saved if there was a law abiding citizen carrying a gun that could of put a stop to these mad men!
You obviously just have a problem with guns. People could be killed by every other thing under the sun and liberals say nothing, but when it’s a gun, that’s when things get out of control. Look at history. Hitler had a gun ban, so did Stalin and Mao. I’m sure you know what these men did to their countries once no one had a gun to stop them! But the focus for you is, the people. We should take away guns, then people will be safer, right? I noticed you didn’t mention Chicago at all. Your numbers are so misleading. Chicago has had a gun ban for many years now. And it has the highest crime rate of any city in America! Gun bans only take guns away from law abiding citizens much like myself. But criminals do not respect the law. Which is why Chicago has 3 times as many homicides a week than any other city! Do your homework before you start barking up the wrong tree. Your liberal mindset has clouded your logic.
Collin,
I never said that you used the term “mass persecution”, but you definitely implied the Oregon shootings were all about killing Christians, which I don’t think is true. f you want to kill a bunch of Christians, you walk into a church & shoot them, like the Charleston massacre. Mercer set out to commit mass murder because he was a lonely nutjob who was mad about not being able to get a girlfriend. (I’m sure there were other factors, but despite his mother’s claims that he had Asperger’s, IMO he wasn’t any crazier than most people you see everyday. Being evil is not the same as being mentally ill.) When Mercer ordered several people in the clasroom to get on the ground, one woman in a wheelchair struggled to comply. Her name was Sarena Moore. Mercer never asked her if she was a Christian. He did however, humiliate her by watching her struggle to get down on the floor, then told her to climb back into he wheelchair. He shot & killed her as she was obeying his command.
Sarena was a devout Christian but Mercer never knew that, so she wasn’t killed because of her faith. And the folks who told him they weren’t Christians weren’t spared — he may not have aimed for their heads, but he still shot them. Because he wanted to kill a bunch of people, not just Christians.
You said: “I never once stated that we needed more guns. I said we should have significantly less “gun free zones”. Why do you think these shooters are targeting schools? Because they don’t allow law abiding citizens to carry guns on the premises!
— So what is YOUR solution, Collin? Why do you think eliminating gun-free zones & giving a carry permit to everyone who wants one will make us all safer? Per a 2012 CNN report, there are already 300+ million guns in the hands of private citizens. (http://cnn.it/1LzCu7J). Per the US Census website, our current population is a bit above 312 million. We have more than enough guns to keep us “safe” if virtually unrestricted gun ownership could really accomplish that. Yet we have a mass shooting roughly every 2 weeks in this country. (http://usat.ly/1Mff5Tt). I have personally known 2 people who died as the result of gun violence. I live in Baltimore where someone gets shot almost every every day — our gun crime rate is now higher than Chicago’s. Over the Memorial Day weekend of this year, there were 29 shootings here. So gun violence is not an abstraction for me.
No other developed nation on the planet has more weapons in the hands of civilians or such lax gun laws as the US. We also have the highest murder rate of any developed country. Do You Get That?
Here are some facts — not opinions, Facts — based on professionally-conducted research that I had nothing to do with:
1) Of the top 10 states with the strongest gun laws, 7 of those 10 also have the lowest gun death rates. (http://bit.ly/UYH1ry — scroll down to see the chart)
2) The Huffington Post reported last year on a study from the Violence Policy Center which stated that states with higher per capita gun ownership also have far higher levels of gun homicides. Alaska has the highest rate of gun deaths (19.59 per 100,000) — significantly higher than the national average of 10.64 per 100,000. Alaska also has the 3rd-highest rate of gun ownership, with guns in more than 60% of households. These stats show that higher ownership levels in a state correlate with More Gun Deaths – period. (http://huff.to/1tzZmLw)
3) Authorities have found 13 guns connected to Chris Harper-Mercer. After he shot himself, they found 5 pistols & 1 rifle in his possession at the school. Police searched his apartment & found 2 pistols, 4 rifles and a shotgun. All the guns were legally obtained by the shooter or a family member over the last 3 yrs. through a federally-licensed firearms dealer.(http://cnn.it/1KQR72S). There is no legit reason for a person to need that many guns! But people like you won’t support ANY restrictions at all on private gun ownership. That is an unjustifiable position to have in light of the repeated gun massacres we have in this country.
(The thingee is telling my post is too long so I’ll have to continue it in another window…)
[reply to Collin, cont’d]
You said: “You obviously just have a problem with guns. People could be killed by every other thing under the sun and liberals say nothing, but when it’s a gun, that’s when things get out of control….A week after Sandy Hook, a Chinese man walked into a school and killed 30 children with a knife. Should we start doing background checks for Kitchen knives? ”
— I am the daughter a NYC police officer. I learned to shoot a gun at the age of 12. I went with my father to the gun range to practice routinely as a teenager. So take your assumptions about my opinions & flush them down the toilet! I don’t “have a problem” with guns. I have a problem with mass shootings that result from idiots who are allowed to own gun that should not have guns. A gun is a tool, like scissors or a frying pan. But of those 3 tools, the gun is the only one you can commit mass murder with.
— Your facts are WRONG about the stabbing at that school in China — YOU are the one who exaggerates & misquotes info to make a point! 22 primary school children were wounded in a knife attack at the Chenpeng Village Primary School in central China on Dec. 14, 2012. Several ended up in critical condition, but THERE WERE NO FATALITIES! (http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/14/world/asia/china-knife-attack/) Know why? Because stabbing someone to death is not easy. It takes repeated hits from the knife to kill someone or 1 or 2 well-placed cuts that sever a vein or artery. The madman who stabbed those kids was out of his mind, moved quickly from one child to the next & thankfully, did not manage to kill anyone because he wasn’t organized enough to achieve that. No one died precisely because that nutjob did NOT have a gun.
— Please stop with the pro-gun bait-&-switch bs — those tactics don’t work on me. We are talking about Mass Murders With Guns here, period. No intelligent person is going to try & ban knives or cars or hammers just because someone can use those to kill people, so don’t insult me by pretending I should be discussing that. You don’t get to decide what issues should matter to me.
My points are simple & straightforward. We need to change the gun laws in this country in order to reduce mass murders — & even the murder of just 1 or 2 people at a time with a gun. I’ve cited enough facts which show that more guns, or even more carry permits, is NOT going to solve this problem. Here’s how I think we can do that:
1) Require a federal criminal background check for anyone who currently owns a gun ro wants to buy one, along with a mental health record check. If you’ve been hospitalized for a mental illness within the past 2 years, you can’t own a gun. After 2 years, your treatment records will be reviewed & if your doctor says you’re now mentally stable, then you can buy a gun or have your old gun back. No, this won’t catch every crazy person out there, but it’s a start.
2) Ban private ownership of automatic & semi-automatic weapons that only exist to slaughter as many people as possible as quickly as possible. No exceptions. Let the gov’t round up all those guns & give the owners a 100% income tax credit to reimburse them for the purchase price IF they can provide a valid receipt for the gun.
3) Restrict private ownership of handguns not linked to a carry permit (handguns, not hunting rifles) to 1 per household, excluding cops & soldiers — & they only get to own 2. Round up the rest of the guns, give the owners tax credits, arrest anyone who refuses to hand over their extra weapons & take those guns away. Yes — sieze them. (Wait, I’ll step back while your head explodes…) If I had a tiger in my house or a batch of uranium, the cops would seize them because it’s illegal for me to have them. So make having moe than 1 gun per home illegal too.
4) Stop issuing open carry & concealed carry permits to anyone who doesn’t have a valid reason for needing to carry a gun. Business owners who handle a lot of cash will be the exception — & many of them already have concealed carry permits. If you are not an off-duty cop pr FBI agent, or a jeweler on his way to the bank with the day’s receipts, then you get to have a hidden weapon. There is no reason for regular folks to be walking around with a gun on their hip anymore than you should be walking around with a machete in your hand. The cops would stop you for that & take away your machete because it’s a dangerous weapon. A gun on your hip is far more dangerous. I immediately leave the area if I see anyone with a gun who isn’t a cop because I have no clue who that person is or what’s on their mind. People have the right to NOT be intimidated in public places by gun-lovers sporting their weapons as a psychological bullying tactic. The 2nd amendment was NEVER meant to cover that.
5) Regulate & track the guns people already have, the same way we regulate & track the cars people own.
A) Require a license to own a gun, just as you need a license to drive.
B) Require registration & a title for all firearms, just as we require for cars.
C) Require a written exam & a practical exam for anyone who wants a gun license, just as you have to take a written test & a road test to get your drivers license.
D) Require liability insurance for each gun owned, just as we require for each car on the road. Make people take responsibility for what happens with their guns.
E) Require a transfer of title be issued for any private or commercial gun sale.
If your honest with yourself Collin, nothing on that list is unreasonable. A car is not a weapon, although you can easily kill someone with one. Yet we regulate guns far less than we regulate cars. Stop letting the NRA & it’s lackeys in DC control our gun laws for the benefit of gun makers. Stop pretending this country is anything like Nazi Germany. If the gov’t really wants to come for you, Collin, they will succeed in killing you no matter how many weapons you own — you cannot out-shoot the gov’t. But I’m not worried about the gov’t killing me. Protecting Americans from gun violence is far more important that allowing gun lovers to have as many guns as they want, or any type they want, just because it pleases them. Freedom from being shot in a random gun massacre trumps the gun owners’ desire to have as many murderous weapons as they want. They’ll still be able to have 1 handgun & all the hunting rifles they want. But one handgun is enough for a household. And getting rid of the automatic weapons will put an end to these mass shootings.
Oh & Collin — You claim I was wrong about Australia not having any mass shootings since 1996 — THEN POST A LINK TO PROVE ME WRONG. Remember we’re dealing with mass shootings, which means 3 or more people killed by a single shooter (per the FBI definition). Aussies still kill each other because they still have guns — but they no longer have automatic weapons & their murder rate is far lower than ours since the gun laws changed. I remembered the incident but not the name of the city, so I had to google it before I wrote my post. When I searched “mass shooting in Australia”, Port Arthur was the most recent one that came up. If you found one since then, post a link to it.
So is RC and Jero the leftist wing on this site. You guys must troll this together. Go take your uninformed ban gun talk to some other country like darfur or burma. Go ask them how it’s going.
Hey Brad,
Did you leave your manners back on the pro-gun threads where everyone agrees with you? Here at B&E, we don’t call people names for having an opinion that differs from ours. Your juvenile bait-&-switch tactics don’t fly — Burma & Darfur aren’t developed countries, so nothing I said applies to them. You didn’t see me call anyone an “idiot” in my post, so I don’t appreciate being called one by you. My opinions are as well informed as anyone’s & clearly better informed than yours — I can post a link for every bit of data I cited. All you did was name-call for 3 lousy sentences without listing any facts to support your argument, because you have no facts, just a bunch of myopic opinions.
Give to them your bullets first. May your fire be accurate.
Prynhawn da/Good afternoon and Hi
Hi Devon Bay
Your comment and choice of words does not go well with the blog, and it shows your ignorance and childishness. Like RC I do not call people “idiots,” however, the zealot scribes who wrote the New Testament (NT) never held back their feelings and word, and did use the term on the disciples Peter and John: 13 θεωρουντες δε την του πετρου (Peter) παρρησιαν και ιωαννου (John) και καταλαβομενοι οτι ανθρωποι αγραμματοι εισιν και ιδιωται (idiotai = idiots) εθαυμαζον επεγινωσκον τε αυτους οτι συν τω ιησου ησαν[Acts 4:13 1550 Stephanus New Testament (TR1550)] And all original Greek MSS use the same word, however, all or most of the English translations use a different word “without knowledge”[GNV]
Cofion (regards)
Jero Jones, Mab Cymru
Bore da/Good morning and Hi
Hi BradS
I don’t troll or whatever word you would like to used, I had a message from B+E to comment on this blog, which I did, I also comment when my name is referenced. As for being a leftist, I have never thought I was, I believe I am a nationalist and care for my ancient nation. Who are the remnants of a people that once inhabited most of Europe from the Bronze-Age to 600’s, we are also the oldest people in Europe today, with the oldest written language. A nation not unlike the Jews, who for the last 2,000, has had to fight to survive, and if you are a reader of classical literature—such as Gildas’ (500-70) De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae (On The Ruin and conquest of Britain), you will find that my nation was the first in Europe to be baptise into Christianity, centuries before Rome.
As for RC, we have not contacted or commented together on any subject matter, I believe you owe the young lady an apology! As for myself I do not need anyone to defend my honour, as I believe the “pen is mightier than the gun” if you can allow me to make the pun on the run!
Cofion (regards)
Jero Jones, Mab Cymru
PS We also live on some of the oldest Rocks in the world, that take the Latin name for our country: Cambria or the Cambrian period 540 million years ago (long time before any Bible stories). The start of animal evolution on Earth.
If every body had guns nobody would mess around.
Gun-Free Zones disarm the good people, so there is an implied promise that “we (i.e. those disarming) will protect you”, which they then grandly fail to do in every case.
Then the gun gets the blame. this is irrational.
At least the university or other institution where people are congregated owes those lawfully present some effective form of security. By definition lawless people intent on killing and mayhem do not obey anti-gun or gun control laws.
By the way: Australia just had a muslim wannabe shoot up the place; so much for your big gun ban being in any way effective.
Curses to Big Media for quietly ignoring the anti-Christian aspect here. Funny how liberals promote “anything goes” until some nut takes it literally, then they don’t like the result.
the bible quite clearly says stay away from occult as demons lurk around all occult things everready to possess people and once possessed a person can be driven to do anything as Jesus showed so often!
“The “thief” is Satan who wants to lure all people into sinful rebellion so he can steal the joy from their lives”
No, he wants to lure as many people as possible into sinful rebellion so he can reward them with lavish gifts and recruit them into his army in order to attempt to strengthen his power against God’s Heavenly army. It’s those who resist Satan whose joy he wants to steal from their lives.
Satan doesn’t punish the guilty as mythology erroneously teaches. Satan seeks to punish the innocent.
Hey 🙂 I’m confused, do you accept Jesus or not? Because you’re on a Christian blog yet you said “Bible ‘stories'”. I object that term because they’re not stories. The Bible is Holy and is fact. The shooter was opposing Christians and in killing was going against what Jesus taught. Saints were individuals who had accepted Jesus and repented of their sins and were loving, amazing people. They were people who didn’t just call themselves Christians but rather implemented Jesus’s teachings (the teachings were the will of His Father). Why anyone (the shooter and others) would object God is beyond me. Even Darwin acknowledged that a major weakness in his theory was how complex the eye is. Nevertheless humans, animals and nature as a whole! That is Intelligent Design. And this shooting had nothing to do with Jesus and religion but everything to do with evil. Don’t confuse the two.
As for gun laws I agree with you.
I am late to this thread I realize. May they Rest in Peace. And may the injured be healed, in Jesus’s name. Amen. A little inspiration for all of us ♡ Mother prays son back to life after being dead for 45 mins > http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/02/04/inspiration-nation-mom-prays-son-back-to-life/22883985/ Bye bye!