Here are some more thoughts on the current Gun Debate

Last year after the events unfolded at Penn State I wrote a blog about the sacrifice of children. You see Judaism was in part a response to the pagan world and the story of the Binding of Isaac was a response to the practice of child sacrifice that was so prevalent in the ancient world. Those students who rioted in response to the firing of Joe Paterno placed an American cultural value before a sacred religious one… And now today I want to know if we are doing the same thing again. I keep on wanting to sing Lee Greenwood’s God Bless the USA… I keep on thinking of all of the eulogies that we offer for soldiers and people killed in the line of duty… What are they defending? I believe the constitution to be a holy document… But the problem is that we are allowing it to be used for unholy things. Can we really be proud to be Americans when we advocate for dangerous tools of murder to be readily available? Can we really be proud of a document that is used to advocate for unlimited numbers of bullets to be placed into guns at a time? Can we really be proud when our one singular basic duty of protecting children is second to the second amendment? When does the madness end? When can we be safe from the bullets flying about our world? Judaism destroyed child sacrifice and America seems to have resurrected it… We must not allow for their deaths to have occurred in vain. We must push for the children who are still here to be safe because of those who died. After all, isn’t that the constant refrain for soldiers: (he died so you could be alive).

We live in a world that continues to victimize children on a regular basis. We live in a world that witnesses child prostitution, child marriage, child slavery, child soldiers and so many more evils. Children should be playing with toys, not attending funerals. Children should be stopping our lust for evil and power not being victimized by it. Children should be laughing and not crying. Schools should be safe and not dangerous. But all of these clichés have come to a screeching halt. All of these clichés are no longer the case. We in America brag about the quality of life we enjoy here, and we brag about freedoms unlike anywhere else in the world, but what freedom is there when even a five year old is not entitled to life and safety in a classroom? We all have some deep soul searching to do right now. We all need to come together and agree that enough is enough. For me it was enough when gangs were killing each other in the cities. For me it was enough when police officers were being killing while on duty. For me it was enough when people watching a movie were slaughtered. But I am just one person, we must all work together to see that the unthinkable has happened and that our children demand and deserve better. Kids should be at birthday parties, not at funerals. But the funerals will continue so long as we do not put their safety and well-being ahead of some words on paper that have been abused and misinterpreted for countless generations.

There is a midrash about the binding of Isaac that he was blinded on that day by a tear drop from his father’s eye. Might we be doing the same thing? Might we be causing irreversible damage to our most precious assets because of our adherence to the second amendment? We as the adults are shedding tears, them as children are being permanently damaged. This is not right; it never was and never will be. Isaac survived with some scars. For all but 26 of us we are just as fortunate, but for the remaining 26 may we be wiser and move forward knowing that we have a responsibility to the dead to not have let them die in vain?

There are no answers, only questions. And right now we need to ask ourselves what we are doing to make fewer Isaacs and more children? What are we doing to regain our pride in being Americans? And lastly, at what cost does our freedom come? The answer can never be the lives of our young.

Where to Go From Here?

Okay, here goes nothing. I am not sure where this is going to go so hold on tight. Just the other day I threw out my nerf gun. I made a decision that I needed to be consistent, and I needed to accept that a gun was a gun. I cannot allow for a gun to be a toy... it is not okay. The last night of Hanukah, our synagogue had a great party at a family fun venue, which included laser tag. As I was suiting up, the person in charge was giving us instructions. Our guns had unlimited ammo; we could activate rapid fire. The whole thing was quite frightening to hear as we were all aware of the previous day’s events. I became very uncomfortable shooting a laser at these little kids and eventually left and did something else. It just felt wrong.

With regards to the plagues of our society we need to recognize that the problems lie all over the place. We are arguing over the first and the second amendments, and it appears as if most would rather be purists than have sensible legislation. The limit on the first amendment is accepted as being the idea that a person is free to swing his arms but that freedom ends where my nose begins. We also refer to the understanding that it is illegal to yell fire in a crowded theater. What is the limit on the second amendment? As it stands it is limitless. Might we suggest that the limit is your right to carry a gun ends where my right to safety begins? Might we argue that guns that can murder and maim mass numbers in a matter of seconds are the limit? If the first amendment has a limit, then certainly the second must as well. But we all seem to acknowledge that the problem is not only the actual guns. A major contributing factor is the glorification of guns and violence. I am a huge hockey fan... I actually have three religions: 1) Judaism, 2) Hockey and 3) Disney. With regards to hockey I love the sport, but Americans are destroying it. When I attend hockey games I am there to see skill and to see goals and stopped shots. I appreciate a good check and/or defensive play; I do not enjoy the fights. I am disgusted by the fan reaction to fights versus the fan reaction to goals. They cheer so much louder for fights. These players are on sharp skates and on slippery ice and they are boxing, it is dangerous and the fans cheer them on more than when they score a goal. We have some sort of obsession with blood and suffering. We have some sort of obsession with pain and agony. We have some sort of obsession with violence in general. I watched the first episode a few years ago of the show Boardwalk Empire. I never watched it again after the scene of the man beating the pregnant woman. It is all in the name of entertainment and I realize it is supposed to be make believe, but it is not entertainment to me. I have met too many battered women to know it is not make believe. When I wrote my paper on violent and misogynistic video games, I did so hoping to prove their legitimacy and innocence... I found quite the opposite. The paper is posted here:http://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/sites/default/files/public/halakhah/teshuvot/20052010/videogames%20Dorff%20Hearshen%20Final.pdf. Just because the first amendment gives us the right to make such material, does not make it okay. Just because studies on the real dangers of such games are inconclusive, does not mean that they are okay. And just because it is fantasy does not make it okay. There is nothing entertaining about dehumanizing women. There is nothing entertaining about murdering innocent civilians on purpose. There is no value in degrading our God-made souls and inviting in such lewd and violent images. I do not blame the entertainment industry for what happened in Connecticut, but they are not allowed to get away free from all of this. I love the words from a great poet/singer - Jack Johnson: 
"Cookie Jar"
Jack Johnson
i would turn on the tv, but it’s so embarrassing
to see all the other people, i don’t know what they mean
it was magic at first, when they spoke without sound
but now this world is gonna hurt, you better turn that thing down
turn it around
“it wasn’t me,” says the boy with the gun
“sure i pulled the trigger, but it needed to be done
because life’s been killing me ever since it begun
you can’t blame me because i’m too young”
“you can’t blame me, sure the killer was my son
but i didn’t teach him to pull the trigger of the gun
it’s the killing on his tv screen
you can’t blame me, it’s those images he seen”
“you can’t blame me,” says the media man
“i wasn’t the one who came up with the plan
i just point my camera at what the people want to see
it’s a two way mirror and you can’t blame me”
“you can’t blame me,” says the singer of the song
or the maker of the movie which he based his life on
“it’s only entertainment, as anyone can see
it’s smoke machines and makeup, you can’t fool me”
it was you, it was me, it was every man
we’ve all got the blood on our hands
we only receive what we demand
and if we want hell then hell’s what we’ll have
i would turn on the tv, but it’s so embarrassing
to see all the other people, don’t know what they mean
it was magic at first, but let everyone down
and now this world is gonna hurt, you better turn it around
turn it around

You see the problem is all of our problems; we are all guilty and have blood on our hands. We all have so much to do to make this better. The violence in media is a problem. The stigma of mental health care and lack thereof is a problem. The lack of laws to police these issues is a problem. The availability of deadly weapons is a problem. Our lack of collective memory is a problem. We have so many issues that we must contend with and we must overcome. We have to make this world better for our children and we must be willing to sacrifice some things to achieve such a world. What we have right now is not the right answer. What we have right now is a freedom that is leading to mass chaos, no discussion of issues and sole focus on the rights of the individual as opposed to the good of society.