The killing in Nashville last week brought out the usual politicians and media who use “Guns are the leading cause of death in children” as their mantra when they push for gun control. There’s much more to this statistic, but we’ll never hear complete truths from them. According to the CDC, since 2016 on average, more than 3,500 children from infant through age19 are shot and killed in the United States each year. Another 15,000 are wounded. 2,100 deaths are homicides, most from domestic violence or street violence. 1,200 deaths are suicide by gun. The remaining are unintentional. Fewer than 35, on average, are a result of mass shootings. Mass shootings account for fewer than 1% of firearms deaths in the U.S. among both adults and children.
Most gun deaths occur in inner-city minority communities. Black kids are 14 times more likely, and Hispanic kids 3 times more likely, than white kids to die from guns. The killing that is a weekly occurrence in communities across the country is barely mentioned. It’s expected.
Many of us grew up in a society vastly different from today.
Last week the Wall Street Journal reported on a survey conducted with the NORC (National Opinion Research Center) at the University of Chicago, a nonpartisan research organization. Since first conducted in1998, findings show a sharp decline in values once considered to be fundamental to our American way of life. 38% of respondents said patriotism was very important to them, down from 70% and 39% said religion was very important to them, down from 62%. The share of Americans who say having children, involvement and their community and hard work are very important values has also fallen. The only priority tested that grew in importance over the past twenty-five years was money, which was very important to 43% of respondents, up from 31% in 1998.
The results are even more striking in those under the age of 30. In that age group, 23% said patriotism was very important to them, 31% said religion was very important to them and 23% said having children was very important to them.
Just 12% of respondents said they are very happy. This survey finding alone should leave no doubt it is time for us to seriously evaluate how we are living.
In the 1960s, it was the norm for children to grow up in homes with married parents. They were taught right from wrong and how to live within the nuclear family. Belief in God was an important moral guidepost in most people’s lives. Honesty, hard work, self-sufficiency, and personal responsibility were shared values. People loved their country and cherished their freedom. They focused on their commonalities as Americans rather than on meaningless differences.
Today, nearly 40% of American children are born to single mothers. Immorality permeates our lives. Dishonesty, dependence, entitlement, victimization, and division are rapidly displacing the fundamentals essential to living a good life.
Evil and mental illness thrive in the culture we have created. There is no government fix, and we cannot allow politicians to distract us with a gun control agenda that has nothing to do with what is destroying our country. They have contributed to where we are today, using deceit, division, and dependence to amass power. There is only one way to reverse the trajectory we are on. We must confront the truth and take responsibility family by family.
There are those who say we have failed our children because we have mass shootings. They have it backward. We have mass shootings because we have failed our children.
VOTE DANIEL KELLY ON APRIL 4
In Wisconsin, the April 4 Supreme Court election is high stakes. It is a battle between an activist judge, Janet Protasiewicz, who will legislate from the bench and Daniel Kelly, a constitutionalist who will protect our freedom. The conservative majority is on the line. Millions of dollars are pouring into our state from outsiders who want to dictate how we live. The total price tag for this race is approaching $45 million, nearly three times the national record. The advertising we are being subjected to is an insult to the judiciary and to us. Do not sit this election out. In-person absentee voting ended Friday, March 31. If you haven’t yet voted, engage with your family, friends, neighbors, colleagues, and co-workers. Lock in your vote on April 4. Our outrage at the abuses of this government must fuel our unwavering resolve.
