Freedom to...own a gun

I grew up with a family that owned guns.  To my knowledge and memory, they were locked away.  As an adult, I am also a gun owner.  I keep my gun loaded, ready to use but secure (as appropriate), and I actually know how to shoot it.  I consider myself a responsible gun owner because I believe "responsible" is the only way to be if you make the decision to have a gun.  Honestly, I keep the gun to protect me from other people with bad intentions and guns.  If tomorrow you told me, all of the guns were being removed from our country, with the exception of the military, I could live with that decision.  I have no plans to kill a single living being.  And in the unlikely event I am attacked or my family is attacked and I decide to pull the trigger...I expect two things.  I expect to kill someone.  And I expect to be held accountable before God someday for murder.  Irregardless of the circumstances around the killing. 

Matthew 5:38-39
You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I tell you, do not resist an evil person.  If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.

There is a whole lot of chatter around gun control in our country right now.  Every single time there is a mass shooting (or really any shooting), politicians leverage the event to further build their platform.  And it disgusts me.  The country's problem with violence is not a platform for political agenda.  It is a red flag that we have a serious, heartbreaking problem.   And the problem isn't related to guns.  The problem is related to people.  People that need support, help, love, structure and a big dose of God.

The right to bear arms outlined in our Constitutional Amendments originated from a right to be able to defend our country as a united group of people.  It was not permission to go kill people.  I still very much believe in the freedom to bear arms and I believe the need for war and acts of war as outlined in our history and more importantly as outlined in the bible.  War is very real in the bible.  The freedom to bear arms, and the many other freedoms, granted to us does NOT give us the right to do whatever we desire.  It does not give us the freedom to act like lunatics.  We've confused "freedom of (you fill the in blank)" with freedom to do whatever.  There is a BIG difference.  And the accountability lives with our entire culture: our government, our media, our healthcare system, and our people...each and every person owns a piece of the disaster we've become in this world. 

Freedom, accountability and a gun,

Ashley Lucille