As America is reeling once again from a senseless mass shooting the usual characters raise their voices.
Sunday morning, a young white male, Devin Kelley, walked into the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas and opened fire. He killed at least 26 people and wounded another 20. Literally, everyone in the church building was shot, being either wounded or killed. The stories of the slaughter are horrible and bound to only get worse in the coming days.
The pastor’s fourteen-year-old daughter is among the dead, and others ranging from two-years-old to people in their seventies. No one was spared.
I wrote a book with a very similar scenario a few years ago titled Mercy Shot. In my fiction novel, a psycho walked into a church and opened fire. He killed a few innocent people and then was killed by a parishioner who had a concealed weapon. That good Samaritan was charged with murder in my book and a courtroom drama ensues. I wish someone inside the First Baptist Church had been armed this morning. If so, this true story would have much lower death totals.
As fate would have it, Devin Kelley did encounter an armed citizen upon leaving the church. He exchanged gunfire with the citizen. Still no police were on scene at this time. Kelley may have been mortally wounded in the exchange. He jumped in his car and was then pursued by the citizen and another citizen with a truck until the shooter crashed and was found dead in his vehicle. Either dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound or a wound from the armed citizen.
Like clockwork the Democrats are crying for gun control.
It’s so predictable it’s boring.
Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) tweeted:
15h
Elizabeth Warren
✔@SenWarren
Replying to @SenWarren
How many kids must die of gun violence on playgrounds & streets every day with no attention at all before we wake up to what’s happening?
Elizabeth Warren
✔@SenWarren
Thoughts & prayers are not enough, GOP. We must end this violence. We must stop these tragedies. People are dying while you wait.
6:26 PM – Nov 5, 2017
Kamala Harris, a 2020 Dem Presidential hopeful tweeted:
Kamala Harris
✔@KamalaHarris
Senseless gun violence has torn apart another community — this time in a house of worship. When do we say enough is enough? https://twitter.com/ABC/status/927277214093148160 …
4:13 PM – Nov 5, 2017
Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) tweeted:
Senator Dick Durbin
✔@SenatorDurbin
The shooter turned his gun on people — kids — in a place of worship. America is in the grips of a gun violence crisis. Congress must act. https://twitter.com/CBSNews/status/927270548740157440 …
3:47 PM – Nov 5, 2017
It’s as predictable as it is ridiculous. When will they ever understand that no law can stop this violence. They can never legislate this away. It’s the height of their own arrogance that they think they have that much power over the human condition. As if they could somehow wave their magic wand and make it all go away. If it wasn’t for those pesky Republicans loving their guns and the evil NRA the world would be at peace.
Obviously, that’s about as sensical as believing in unicorns.
So, what is to be done? Who is to blame?
I don’t know if we can blame anyone for the entire corruption of what held our society together, but it appears that is what we’ve lost when a man can walk into a church full of peaceful Christians and with malice and a cold-heart, slaughter them all. From babies to grandma’s he killed everyone.
If you didn’t believe in evil before, you should now.
It’s time for the churches of America to wake up to a new reality. They need security. They need a strategy of how to handle active shooters. They need a plan. They need to have their entire facilities assessed in light of how they could be vulnerable to attack. And most of all…the churches of America need armed security. Every single church.
I just lost a bunch of you, but I’m not kidding. If there ever was a church that should have been safe…it was First Baptist of Sutherland Springs, Texas. Fifty friends who loved to worship Jesus and had known each other for years. They never hurt anyone unless someone paid too much for a pie at the last bake sale. If they aren’t safe, then tell me what church is?
Hey, Pastor’s…do you really think you can ignore this? Do you want to wade through bodies of the ones you fought so hard to get saved? Being comforted that they’ve made it to heaven will not be a solace when you know that you didn’t do all you could to protect them from the evils of this world.
This morning at 11:30 I was actually at church. I watched a teenaged girl I’ve known for ten years give her life publicly to Jesus. Our pastor, who is a friend of mine, entered the tank with her and with tears of joy flowing from her eyes she was submerged in water and baptized in the name of Jesus. It was a goose-bumped moment with eternal consequences for believers. Her family was there. My wife cried a little.
No one knew it, but I was armed at that moment.
Also, at that very moment, in Sutherland Springs, fifty other Christians were being slaughtered. The shooter didn’t stop until everyone in the church had been shot. He exited the building and engaged an armed citizen. His rampage was over.
If Devin Kelley had walked into the back of my church today, would I have been able to stop him? I don’t know. I would have been severely outgunned, and he was wearing a bullet-proof vest, but I would have emptied my gun into him as I likely took rounds myself. Maybe he would have fled like he did when confronted with return fire from a citizen? Maybe as he was forced to focus on me, someone else would have tackled him? Who knows?
What would have happened had there been an actual armed security officer on site? Maybe he never would have made it to the sanctuary? He killed two people outside before he entered the church. Those inside would have heard that gunfire and had about 10 seconds to prepare before hell entered the First Baptist Church and killed half of the people present.
The Democrats are crying for gun control. This shooter had been kicked out to military for an assault and held in jail for at least 12 months…it was illegal for him have guns. No NEW gun laws would have stopped him…the current ones didn’t.
The Republicans are simply trying to fight the Democrats to keep our gun rights in the face of this carnage. They have their hands full with that.
The only entity who could have stopped this…is the church. Churches who do not take security serious are sitting ducks for the crazies among us. This guy was a crazy white guy. Next time it could be a Lone Wolf Jihadi like the recent truck killer in New York. The point is the killer doesn’t even matter. The Democrats and Republicans don’t matter. What matters are the lives of your friends and loved ones sitting in the pew next to you.
This is the churches responsibility. It’s time for them to step up to the new reality. Every Christian church in America needs armed security or risks being the next place of slaughter. Click here to watch the trailer to my book Mercy Shot. We filmed this several years ago. It’s pretty crazy after the recent tragedy. Click here to order the book.
Image: Screen Shot: http://www.onenewspage.com/video/20171105/9185511/Multiple-People-Killed-in-Texas-Church-Shooting.htm
