Why Do We Rank #1 in Gun Violence?

Why does the US far outpace every other developed nation in rates of gun violence? What makes us so special that our per capita gun violence rate is 3x higher than the next developed nation? Why do we have more mass shootings than Yemen in a time of war?

-Is it a mental health problem? It would seem that women and men of color are not affected like white males. Maybe it's something in our water supply that Canada and Spain don't have.

-Is it a societal ill based on bad parenting and discipline? We are the only developed nation with the symptoms of gun violence, mass shootings, and school shootings. Are we that much worse at child discipline and parenting skills than the Europeans and Aussies?

-Is it a result of Hollywood and video games? The rest of the developed world watches the same shows and plays the same video games. They don't act out the same way. The Japanese traditionally watch much more television than we do.

-Is it a result of the US abandoning God and "taking prayer out of the schools?" The rest of the developed world is in a similar situation with empty cathedrals as relics of a faith long past. They don't have anything near our levels of gun violence.

-Is it simply a sin problem? How is it that the US is at least three times more sinful than the next developed nation?

-If it is not the guns, but evil people, why are there so many white men in our society who are evil? Are we somehow rearing evil white males at extraordinary rates?

If this is a moral problem, the US is the most immoral nation in the developed world. I guess we could just own that and claim it as part of our American Dream.

On the other hand, we could take a shot at serious gun regulations to see if they make a difference. After all, we strictly regulate motorcycles, seat belts, baby strollers, fertilizer, cigarettes, and alcohol.

Maybe we just really don't care how many more white men decide to shoot up our schools, concert halls, baseball fields, theaters, and workplaces. Maybe we really are simply morally inferior to every other developed nation on the planet. If so, we deserve the consequences of our idolatrous relationship with gun violence.



—©Copyright 2018, Christopher B. Harbin
http://www.sermonsearch.com/contributors/104427/

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