Gun gods.

The First Amendment gives Americans the right to free speech, press, assembly, to petition the government and to practice or not practice religion. So, for example, you can believe in whatever theology you like and pretty much say whatever you wish without interference or regulation. However, if you start sacrificing humans at your worship gathering, the cops are going to show up, shut you down and charge you with murder.

If I libel or slander you with my words, you can take legal action, file suit and seek justice and damages, despite the First Amendment. No rights are unlimited. None.

Now the Second Amendment says this: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." But in Florida, that has become, among other things: "A person is justified in using or threatening to use deadly force if he or she reasonably believes that using or threatening to use such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the imminent commission of a forcible felony." And that deadly force includes using a firearm.

This week in Florida, a man approached a mother in a parked car outside a store. With her were two of her children, a four-month old son and three-year-old daughter. The man started an argument with her, apparently because she was occupying a spot designated for the disabled. He believed he had the right to enforce parking ordinances and vigorously argued her eligibility to use the spot. There were apparently empty spaces and he insisted she move into one of them. When the woman's boyfriend and father of her children came out of the store, she opened the door of her vehicle and climbed out, putting her in close proximity of the stranger. Her partner quickly stepped forward and shoved the man who was confronting her, pushing him to the ground. Seated on the pavement, the self-proclaimed parking enforcement official pulled a handgun. The boyfriend took steps back, before the assailant shot him in front of his family. Wounded, the dad staggered into the store where he collapsed and died in front of his five-year-old son.

Law enforcement in Florida has not arrested the shooter, declaring he was within his rights to stand his ground and shoot an unarmed man because he believed he had to "to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm." The gunman had a concealed weapon's permit.

Question: Was the boyfriend within his rights to protect the mother of his children and the two youngsters inside the car because he felt concerned for their safety? Since in Florida you can kill someone if you "reasonably believe" you're threatened, it would follow you can you push someone if you "reasonably believe" you're threatened, or your loved one is threatened? Law enforcement there must not agree because they've publicly defended the shooter and referred the case to the State Attorney's office to decide. Perhaps if the boyfriend had shot the stranger who confronted his girlfriend at her car window, he would be alive today and free to go about his business because he was just standing his ground with a weapon. Perhaps his mistake was that he didn't shoot the man who came to the family car and provoked an argument. Florida law allows you to stand your ground at home, in your car, in a hotel room and apparently in a parking lot. Twenty-two states have similar laws that do not re quire people to retreat to avoid conflict.

However, just before the victim was shot, he took a couple steps back when he saw the shooter reach for his gun. He wasn't standing his ground but died anyway.

The event was captured on the store's security cameras, which you can view here. I offer this version because it has no commentary. Unfortunately the NY Post added music, but it is raw and unedited:

https://nypost.com/2018/07/20/stand-your-ground-law-protects-shooter-in-deadly-fight-over-parking-space-sheriff/

Now, what if the shooting had occurred around the corner, out of the camera's view?

The idea that we have reached a place where you can pull a gun and shoot and kill an unarmed person who shoves you away from his family in the broad daylight is a frightening concept. This means, your word against a dead man that you felt legitimately threatened. I can sacrifice your life if I "believe" you are dangerous and I'm free to go about my business.

I must be misinterpreting Florida law. The so called, "stand your ground" statute must be based on the First Amendment since it says: "... reasonably believes that using or threatening to use such force is necessary ..." So, in Florida, you have a right to kill based on what you "believe," because your beliefs are protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution. Sort of like a religion. It's not about facts, it's about what you "reasonably believe."

Here's one very important footnote and the basis of my sarcasm. If you watched the video link above, I'm sure you saw the shooting victim take a couple steps back a good second or two before he was shot. In Florida, the law also clearly states that anyone who "... initially provokes the use or threatened use of force against himself or herself" still has duty to retreat. The shooter took it upon himself to argue with the mother about the parking space, despite the fact there were empty spots much closer to the store entrance. He approached her vehicle, stood nearby, gestured and made demands to a total stranger. This provoked the shove from the father who came out to defend his family. As he approached, his girlfriend stepped outside the car and was much closer to the stranger. Perhaps he thought she was now in harm's way. Maybe he was concerned the stranger was carrying a weapon. Indeed he was.

Here's what one reader of the Florida Sun Sentinel wrote about the matter: "I have a handicapped Disabled Veteran Plate due to Vietnam warfare, yet I still have all my limbs, so I do not always appear disabled. However, I have already been shot (so I have a Purple Heart, Bronze Star, Air Medal, Cross of Gallantry w/Palm, and a Combat Infantryman's Badge)," wrote David Brown. "Does that mean I should also be exposed to this (person's) poor judgment, as he stands his ground while I either produce my credentials or tell him to ...?"

You can imagine how David finished that sentence. How Florida police officials missed the idea that the unarmed father was defending his family from the unwanted advances of a stranger at the family vehicle, makes me think they're biased. Biased in favor of gun owners to stand their ground as opposed to those who are unarmed defending their turf. What they believe supercedes your beliefs and visual evidence.

Jesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers, because they will be called the children of God." (Matthew 5:9) He was not referring to the gun that won the West, the 1873 edition of the Colt Single Action Army revolver which came to be called "The Peacemaker." But the nickname implied that flashing that weapon was enough to cool heads. Unfortunately, there were no real, flesh and bone peacemakers in that parking lot in Florida. So, a father went into a store with a five-year-old to buy snacks and came outside to meet his Maker.

Tragically, in America, gun's have become gods. And some who are hired to keep the peace worship them.

Blessed are the peacemakers.

Do we care?

It's amazing what we can do when we put our minds to it. But we have to care.

Did you know that the automotive electric self-starter was invented because someone was killed by a crank start? That's right. In 1908, a Detroit car guy stopped to help a woman on the city's Belle Isle when her snazzy Cadillac stalled. Byron Carter, founder of the CarterCar company generously offered to rescue the stranded lady. He had sold his company to GM in 1909 and was a buddy of Cadillac founder, Henry Leyland. Well, when he cranked the woman's Caddy, the engine backfired and the crank mechanism slammed Carter in the jaw, breaking it. Gangrene developed, then pneumonia and Carter died that year. Reportedly, Leyland was so saddened, he promised his engineering team a Cadillac would never kill another person. In 1912, the luxury carmaker introduced a self-starter on its vehicles. No more killer cranks. GM genius, Charles Kettering, and founder of Delco held the patent for the life-saving device.

In Muscoy, California this week, a four-year-old boy accidentally shot and fatally wounded his cousin, a two-year-old girl. The dead child's 53-year-old grandfather has been arrested for child endangerment. He recklessly left the loaded firearm within reach of the children. I would not want to be that grandpa. My heart aches for him.

Now, I'm guessing his relatives won't sue him for liability in the death of their daughter. And the parents of the four year old won't sue him for damages in the trauma their boy endured when he picked up a gun and killed his relative.

In one way, that's unfortunate. Because lawsuits involving damages due to gun violence could lead to dramatic improvements in gun safety. They could spark the type of powerful technology improvements that have helped dramatically reduce highway deaths in U.S. since the turn of the 21st century.

Please allow me to explain. Here's what happened in the car business. It's the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety (IIHS) that has applied profound pressure to automakers and government regulators. The IIHS has powerful lobbies and clever public relations teams who help generate a lot of data, test results and information about those car crashes that cause the most expensive automotive injuries. Their work leads to high-profile news stories. To protect the profits of insurance companies, the IIHS researches vehicle safety to identify the issues that cost insurers the most money. Technology companies seize on these situations to create interventions to help save lives. With plenty of grease applied by the insurers, sooner than later, these advances often become required, standard equipment. According to the IIHS, there were nearly 51,000 vehicle-related deaths in 1980. Forty years later, in 2011, there were about 19,000 fewer deaths! That's a lot of lives saved! And between 2005 and 2009, the number killed plummeted from 43,500 to 32,500, about a 25% drop.

Not coincidentally, in 2009 and 2010, carmakers were standardizing electronic stability control (ESC), because the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration would require it by 2012. ESC helps reduce the likelihood of a crash up to 65%. Most people today don't even know they have it on their vehicles because it's a sophisticated, automated system.

Imagine if that gun the four-year-old boy picked up this week had a way to detect that a child was holding it and not its owner. I've written a similar line recently. I'm taking a cue from the insurance people. Keep up the pressure.

Maybe if we pray for a change as well as continue to push for change the way the IIHS does, we'll see improvements in firearm safety sooner than later. Miracles are possible. Jesus himself said, "Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater one's than these, because I am going to the Father." (John 14:12)

So, what are we going to do about all the kids who are dying? Do we care?

Packin' fear

You're 17 and you've been arrested twice for carrying a firearm. You're thinking about getting another  because you don't feel safe walking your neighborhood without one.

Stories like these are real and not rare. I spoke to a social worker recently who manages cases in one of America's most violent neighborhoods. She told me teenagers there are routinely arrested for illegally carrying guns but not for committing a crime with a firearm. They buy a weapon for protection because they fear being shot at home, walking to school, or sitting on a corner.

They become hypervigilant. They look over their shoulders. They talk to their workers about fear. They carry guns. And some of them become victims of gunfire. Some die.

During the debate about gun rights in America, some people often suggest the answer to gun violence is arming everyone. Arming teachers in schools. I guess, arming clergy in churches because we've had shootings in churches.

Perhaps when everyone carries a gun, we'll all become hypervigilant, walk about with our heads on a swivel and we'll need to talk to our social workers about our fears.

Counting the carnage.

If you had $75 million and neighbors took nearly all of it leaving you merely 325 bucks -- how would you feel about them?

What if you had been given 75 million food producing plants to farm and someone came and uprooted and sold all but 325 of them, what would you do?

When explorers Louis and Clark arrived in America's West back in 1806, as many as 75 million wild buffalo or bison roamed the plains. Low estimates place the count at 30 million. That's a lot of beef! How many folks could that have fed for how many years?

The adventurers Louis and Clark encountered massive herds at South Dakota's White River and described the sight as "the moving multitude that darkened the whole plains."

By 1830, Americans began to systematically reduce the herds. Seventy-eight years after Louis and Clark first spied the beasts, the species had been decimated. There were only 325 wild bison left in the U.S. by 1884, with 25 in Yellowstone National Park. 

You'd think 74 million would be enough to bag and they could have left a million or so. Nope. 

According to a timeline from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, in 1870, two million bison were hunted and killed in the southern plains. German tanners had developed a method to process hides creating fine leathers. In 1872, as America prepared to celebrate its centennial in a few years, 5,000 bison were killed each day, every day of the year! Ten thousand hunters poured into the plains and one railroad shipped over a million pounds of bison bones. Manufacturers used them in refining sugar, making fertilizer and fine bone china. Hunting bison also became a popular sport among the wealthy. 

Conservation efforts by the turn of the century helped to salvage the devastated species. By 1990, there were about 20 to 25 thousand bison in public American herds, while another quarter million lived in private herds, kept for eventual slaughter and tender, lean meat sales. 

As America debates the second amendment and the right to bear arms, we often hear about our nation's hunting tradition as justification for no gun regulation. But the tale of North America's bison makes a strong, real-world case for common sense versus absolutes. Here's some haunting perspective from scripture: "For mine are all the animals of the forests, beasts by the thousands on my mountains. I know all the birds of the air, and whatever stirs in the plains, belongs to me." (Psalm 50:10-11)

And then Jesus added this vital detail, "... yet not one (sparrow) falls to the ground without your Father's knowledge. Even all the hairs on your head are counted. So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows." (Matthew 10:29-31)

Eventually, cooler heads and clearer minds found a way to stop the shameful, massacre and carnage of bison. But it was too late. It should be easy for us to see the truth -- that greed is making it easy to kill people, just as it did in the 19th century slaughter of beasts. Guns didn't kill the buffalo, but they did make the job easier.

We need to conserve the human heard, unborn and born. Our creator is watching and counting.