wfn.org | Faith and Life commentary: Guns vs. children

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

June 9, 1999 News media contact: Tim Tanton*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.
10-21-71BP{322}

NOTE: A head-and-shoulders photograph of the Rev. Phil Wogaman is available.

A UMNS Commentary
by the Rev. Phil Wogaman*

The recent tragedy at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., has given
rise to much soul-searching in the United States. That has included
questions about the popular culture - especially the role of the Internet
and the media - and the psychology of teen-agers.  

There are areas of broad agreement, including the importance of paying more
attention to young people and helping to ensure that none of them falls
through the cracks. I found myself reflecting on Jesus' parable of the 100
sheep: 99 were safe in the fold, but the good shepherd still bent heaven and
earth to find the one that was missing. The youths who did the terrible deed
represented but a small percentage (about one-tenth of a percent) of the
high school student body. How very important that we reach every single one!

Many people have also taken a new look at the role of guns in our culture.
In an April 25 commentary, Washington Post columnist Fred Hiatt produced
some comparative statistics worth pondering. "In 1996, the last year for
which comparative statistics are available, there were 15 handgun-caused
deaths in Japan, 30 in Great Britain, 106 in Canada - and 9,390 in the
United States." In 1996, he continued, "4,643 children and teen-agers were
killed with guns - 2,866 murdered, 1,309 by suicide, 468 in unintentional
shootings."  

"That means," he concluded, "13 every day - a Littleton massacre every day."

Why are Japan and Great Britain so different from the United States?  There
are other variables, including the fact that the United States is a less
homogeneous culture. But the unavoidable point is that our country is so
very permissive about guns and the others are not.  

A few days after the tragedy, I was on a television panel with the Rev.
Jerry Falwell. We agreed about several things, including the importance of
reaching out to the youth. We both applauded the loving way in which so many
people in Littleton responded to the crisis. But we did disagree on the
issue of guns. Rev. Falwell echoed the words we have all heard numerous
times: "Guns don't kill people; people kill people." What is needed, he
insisted, is for people to be challenged to give their lives to Jesus
Christ.

As a Christian minister, I concur that we need Jesus Christ. But I wondered
whether Rev. Falwell had absorbed the comparison between the United States
and Japan (which I noted on the program).  Since ours is a predominantly
Christian nation and Christians are but a small minority of Japan, surely we
can't say that becoming Christian is what has made the difference. Nor has
church attendance, for that matter. Less than 10 percent of the people of
Great Britain are in church each Sunday, compared with more than 40 percent
in the United States.

I'm afraid it's the guns that make the difference. Other things also make a
difference, including the hard side of our culture as it makes its pitch
through media and Internet to young people. But the ready availability of
guns makes it far too easy for disturbed people to "act out" in lethal ways.
It is true, of course, that people can kill using other means, such as
knives or clubs. But guns are so much more effective!  I'd much rather be
accosted by somebody with a knife or a club than somebody with a shotgun or
a TEC-9.  

Why is the United States one of the few countries that have been unable to
put effective limits on guns? The gun lobby - especially the National Rifle
Association - is able to play upon the fears of people and to translate the
intense feelings of a minority of citizens into real political power.  It is
time for the rest of us to stop being intimidated by that. We need to
announce, very clearly, that we value our children much more than we value
our guns. 

# # # 

*Wogaman, pastor of Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington, is a
seminary professor of Christian ethics and author. He is a clergy member of
the Baltimore-Washington Annual (regional) Conference.

Commentaries provided by United Methodist News Service do not necessarily
represent the opinions or policies of UMNS or the United Methodist Church.

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